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Treatment for Eating Disorders for over 16 year olds

Posted By junezx44

"Treatment for Eating Disorders for over 16 year olds"

About: Joondalup Health Campus Perth Children's Hospital

(as a carer),

Feel hopeless. My child is relapsing from Restrictive Anorexia Nervosa (read story here) and our local hospital will not do a planned admission to asses and start re-feeding. My child apparently needs to become unstable in order to act. Why? Why to wait for someone to be close to get very unwell to be treated.

I believe it is unacceptable that a system seems to prefer to spend more resources re-feeding when in a very low weight than act before it has further  deteriorated the person's health and the cognitive functions.

My child is under the treatment of EDP – PCH until they are 18 as an outpatient. As they are over 16 years old, they can’t be admitted to PCH anymore.

Very sad.

Can I have some information how the medical system will deal with this cohort. For sure we are not the only ones out there in this situation.

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Responses

Response from Katie McKenzie, Executive Lead Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Child and Adolescent Health Service 4 years ago
Katie McKenzie
Executive Lead Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service,
Child and Adolescent Health Service

Submitted on 24/12/2019 at 11:23 AM
Published on Care Opinion at 12:13 PM

picture of Katie McKenzie

Hi junezx44,

Firstly please accept our apology that you have felt unsupported on your journey with your daughter’s illness. I’m sorry you have encountered roadblocks in accessing care for your daughter, and your local hospital wasn’t receptive to admitting her for re-feeding. I appreciate how distressing and frustrating this must feel as a parent.

PCH has multiple age related eligibility requirements depending on whether an adolescent needs inpatient or outpatient care, and whether they are known to us through treatment of a chronic condition. We understand that this is can be really difficult for families to navigate. PCH does accept ‘overage’ patients (patients from 16 to their 18th birthday) for inpatient medical care on a case-by-case basis, provided care at PCH is in the best interests of the young person.

If you would like to contact me at katie.mckenzie@health.wa.gov.au I can help with any further queries that you have.

Kind Regards,

Katie

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by junezx44 (a carer)

Dear Katie,

Thanks for taking your time to respond to my complaint. Fortunately, my child was not eligible to be re-admitted at PCH and I am very grateful they were referred to be admitted to a different hospital.

They have been treated there.

Regards,

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