'She did not get the anorexia help she needed'

People living with an eating disorder and their families should be offered greater support, according to a aScottish government review of services.

The clinicians and psychologists who led the review said that seven of Scotland's health boards had been an 86% increase in referrals for eating disorders over the last year. Figures also showed a 220% jump in paediatric admissions at two regional adolescent in-patient units.

Their report made 15 recommendations including self-help packages, peer support networks and emotional and practical support for families and carers as well.

Christine Reid's daughter Madeline Wallace died from anorexia in January 2018.

The 18-year-old from Peterborough had been studying medicine at Edinburgh University when she became gravely unwell. An inquest into her death found that she "rapidly lost weight" during her first weeks as a student.

"It was very strange," Ms Reid says. "It was almost like watching someone disintegrating from the inside out. It is a horrible illness."

"She got this illness and she really didn't want to have it but she couldn't see a way to recover from it," Ms Reid says.

"She just didn't feel like she got the help she needed."

An independent review in to Maddy's death made 14 recommendations for changes to eating disorder care at a national and regional level including advice for GPs on anorexia complications.

"It feels like if lots of different decisions had gone different ways it could have been avoided and that is hard to take," her mother says.

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Source: BBC News, 24 March 2021