Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2020
I thank my colleague Emma Harper for securing this important debate, which acknowledges eating disorder awareness week and the stark reality that more people lose their lives from eating disorders than any other psychiatric condition. As was said by Dr Stephen Anderson, the chair of the eating disorders faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland:
“Eating disorders are the deadliest and most lethal of mental health conditions and we know that earlier intervention saves lives.”
It is imperative to shine a light on the work that is being done, but also the work that needs to be done, not only this week, but week in, week out to improve quick access to the right treatment at the right time. We should always remember that recovery is possible.
I was encouraged by the minister’s announcement this week that there will be a thorough but speedy review of eating disorder services. That is a crucial first step to a new programme of action to improve services for those who are living with an eating disorder.
There is growing recognition in the development of public services that changes need to be rooted in the evidence and testimony of those with lived experience. We have seen that in new approaches to tackling homelessness and in building our new social security system from the ground up. Eating disorder services should be no different.
I will share with the chamber the experience of my young constituent and her family. Molly is 16 and she is very bright; her parents are proud of her and her individuality and she is an exceptional young woman. Molly’s mum, Lorraine, came to see me last week. She gave a heart-wrenching account of the diligent and persistent attempts by devoted parents, over the course of a year, to try to get help for Molly. There were lots of deeply concerning signs of anxiety and depression, there was regular attendance at the general practitioner, being passed from pillar to post and a lack of treatment options. Although some responses were more positive than others, decisions were made about Molly by people who had never met her. There was poor communication from services and a lack of connectivity between the different services. Thankfully, Molly was eventually seen by a psychiatrist in December—just in time, because she had to be admitted to hospital because her organs were shutting down due to anorexia.
Molly’s mum, Lorraine, described the devastation and anger that she felt at her daughter’s life being put in danger due to what she describes as an “absolute failure of systems”. At the end of the day, all that Lorraine wants is for us to do better by our bairns. Any service provider or decision maker would do well to listen to Lorraine’s experience of being a mum who has had to battle with the system.
Following a helpful conversation that she had with me last week, I have written to the minister and have asked her to meet Lorraine. I know that the minister will want to identify the best way for the testimony of those with lived experience to be at the heart of the service review.
We have a journey yet to travel to deliver on the principle of “ask once, get help fast”. We need to give serious consideration to how we can meaningfully support parents and carers, especially if intensive home-based treatments are to be developed as an option; I hope that they will be. If funded, there are great opportunities for the voluntary sector to help improve the breadth, depth and connectivity of our services.
Thank you very much to the minister for the conversation that we had last week. I have written to her and I know that she will respond to me very soon.
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