A revolutionary way to help young people with eating disorders is planned for Hampshire, following confirmation of £1.6million of additional funding for the county.
A new Eating Disorder Day Programme, to be based at Leigh House in Winchester, will be the first of its kind in the county (and only one of five in the South East) to offer a high intensity alternative to inpatient care. This will enable specialist staff at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust to treat young people in the community and for them to stay at home with their families.
The service - set to open towards the end of the year - will be open to young people aged 18 and under who are already known to specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Currently, Leigh House has an 8-bed acute psychiatric ward for young people aged 13 to 18. This is supported by community CAMHS teams. The announcement will see this inpatient unit at Leigh House redeveloped into an expanded 10-bed ward (with increased therapeutic space), along with the exciting new Day Programme premises. There is also pilot funding for a new transitions team to support young inpatients transitioning back into the community.
Once refurbished, the inpatient unit would continue to support young people with acute and severe mental disorders – such as emerging emotionally unstable personality disorder, deliberate self-harm, major mood disorders, psychoses, complex neuropsychiatric disorders, eating disorders and severe obsessive-compulsive disorders.
The new day treatment programme - which is based on the successful service developed by the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust - will exclusively focus on treating eating disorders. It will be delivered six times a year for up to 10 young people at a time (supporting an additional 60 young people every year). It will consist of a combination of group and individual therapy sessions and meal-time support to young people and their loved ones, as well as support for families.
"A community day service means young people can get help and support for eating disorders, alongside their family, without having to go into hospital. The service will help us treat young people sooner - avoiding deterioration in a young person’s physical condition."
Alison Vasey, Head of Clinical Services for CAMHS
This new Southern Health service is being commissioned by the NHS Wessex and Dorset CAMHS Provider Collaborative, with funding from NHS England.
Alison Vasey, Head of Clinical Service for CAMHS at Southern Health, said: "We are so pleased to be able to offer this next level of support to young people with an eating disorder. There has been a huge increase in need for eating disorder services in recent years and this new day programme will provide one way of addressing this, whilst the plans also allow us to expand our bed capacity in our inpatient unit.
“A community day service means young people can get help and support for eating disorders, alongside their family, without having to go into hospital. The service will help us treat young people sooner - avoiding deterioration in a young person’s physical condition - and offers an alternative to staying overnight in hospital to receive the care they need."
Led by a multi-disciplinary team, the service will operate Monday-Friday, with young people attending between 10am and 4pm. There will be flexibility for families to join for a meal in the evening as part of their care plan.
The new Leigh House services are set to launch in late 2023.