BBC News
By Phil Shepka
image copyrightFamily photographs
image captionInquests were held into the deaths of Maddy Wallace, Amanda Bowles, Averil Hart, Emma Brown and Maria Jakes
Concerns about a shortage of eating disorder specialists have been raised by a health minister following the deaths of five women with anorexia.
Coroner Sean Horstead warned NHS trusts were finding it difficult to fill eating disorder vacancies, after the women s inquests in Cambridgeshire.
Conservative MP Nadine Dorries said she shared concerns over the shortages.
She said more accurate data was needed about the number of people with eating disorders.
Mr Horstead had said that while eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of mental illnesses, he was concerned that there may also be a significant under-reporting of the extent to which eating disorders have caused or contributed to deaths .
Tragic Big Brother star Nikki Grahame was the victim of a series of care failures that led to her entirely avoidable death from anorexia, those closest to the 38-year-old have claimed.
They have also revealed Nikki s desperate struggle to get treatment over the last six months, during which time she was discharged from hospital twice while severely unwell, on one occasion weighing just 22kg – the equivalent of a seven-year-old child.
The last time she was discharged, on Thursday April 8, she weighed less than 31kg. Just 12 hours later, she was dead. If she hadn t have been discharged, I think she d still be with us today, said one friend who has been closely involved with her medical case over a number of years.
Tragic Big Brother star Nikki Grahame was the victim of a series of NHS care failures that led to her entirely avoidable death from anorexia, those closest to the 38-year-old have claimed.
They have also revealed Nikki s desperate struggle to get treatment over the last six months, during which time she was discharged from hospital twice while severely unwell, on one occasion weighing just three and a half stone – the equivalent of a seven-year-old child.
The last time she was discharged, on Thursday April 8, she weighed less than five stone. Just 12 hours later, she was dead. If she hadn t have been discharged, I think she d still be with us today, said one friend who has been closely involved with her medical case over a number of years.
Sean Horstead outlined his concerns in a report to prevent future deaths, which was published this week. He has sent his report to five parties, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, and has asked for responses by April 28. Mr Horstead, assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire, said responses “must contain details of action taken or proposed to be taken, setting out the timetable for action”. He added: “Otherwise you must explain why no action is proposed.” Mr Horstead concluded last November the death of 19-year-old university student Averil Hart was avoidable and was contributed to by neglect. Averil was discharged from the eating disorder clinic at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in August 2012 and started her creative writing course at the University of East Anglia in Norwich the following month.
Anorexia: Coroner s concern over eating disorder deaths under-reporting
Published
image copyrightFamily photographs
image captionClockwise, from top left: Maddy Wallace, Amanda Bowles, Averil Hart, Emma Brown and Maria Jakes
A coroner has spoken of concerns over a possible significant under-reporting of eating disorders following the deaths of five women who had anorexia.
Sean Horstead said in a report there was a lack of robust and reliable data around the illness.
Simon Brown, whose daughter Emma died in 2018, said it laid out some of the key things that have to change .
The Department for Health and Social Care said it was important. everyone gets the mental health support needed.