Fears for women's support services

Counsellors fear services may have to be cut

Two support services for women on Tyneside are under threat because of budget cuts being decided on Tuesday.

Staff at the Tyneside Rape Crisis Centre and the Eating Distress Service say they will end up offering a poorer service or even closing altogether.

The Newcastle NHS Primary Care Trust says it is having to make what it calls "hard decisions".

Gillian Joseph, project manager for the Northern Initiative on Women and Eating (NIWE) Eating Distress Service, said one-in-10 people suffer from an eating disorder and many are referred to NIWE by the NHS.

She said many women will have nowhere to turn if the centre is forced to close.

Ms Joseph said: "We are talking about helping people with eating disorders, like anorexia, bulimia, compulsive eating or binge eating,

"We also get people who perhaps have a number of elements of these problems but do not fall within the clinical criteria so they would have nowhere else to go.

"We are a unique service in this area".