NHS England data shows 84 patients were sent hospitals in Scotland in 2020-23 due to lack of beds near their homes
Vulnerable eating disorder patients from England are being sent hundreds of miles from their homes to Scotland for treatment, as the number of available beds south of the border has dropped in two years.
Data from NHS England, which included the financial years 2020-2021, 2021-22 and 2022-23 and up to the end of May 2023, shows that 84 patients were sent from England to Scotland. The total cost of this was almost £9m. In the financial year 2022-23, 29 patients made this trip, costing more than £3.4m. The Guardian spoke to a young woman who had been sent more than 400 miles from Sussex to Glasgow, an eight-hour drive.
For more resources, Beat has this directory of eating disorder support services in the UK, and also runs helplines across the four UK nations. The RCP also has helpful resources for children and young people and their families. In the US, more resources are available from the National Eating Disorders Association. In Australia, contact Butterfly.
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