Wales set for first anorexia unit

Up to 60,000 people in Wales suffer from an eating disorder

People with eating disorders will be able to have residential treatment in Wales when the country's first specialist unit opens in Cardiff.

The privately-run Welsh Centre for Eating Disorders opens later this year to treat people aged 16 to 25 as both inpatients and outpatients.

At present, adult patients have to go to clinics in England for treatment.

The Eating Disorders Association said the centre was likely to be "inundated" at first.

Joanne Ball, from Cardiff, mother of 18-year-old anorexia sufferer Kirsty, has welcomed the opening of the unit.

Wales definitely needs some kind of residential centre Joanne Ball

The centre, in Rumney, Cardiff, is to be run by Welsh-based company Trevillian Care Services, and will treat people with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and atypical eating disorders.

The centre's director of operations, Keith Woodall, said: "The centre will answer a desperate need in Wales. We know that patients and their families are urgently seeking help."

It is estimated that up to 60,000 people in Wales suffer some form of eating disorder.

Mark Reilly, from the Eating Disorders Association, which has long campaigned for a treatment centre in Wales, said the clinic opening was "great news".

Kirsty Ball has battled anorexia for nearly seven years

"At last people will be able to stay in their own country to access treatment.

"I think these people have seen the massive gap there is, for the fact is there is no treatment for people in Wales," he told BBC Wales' news website.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders in January 2004.

It recommended people should be treated near to home, by an eating disorder specialist and that families should be involved in the treatment, Mr Reilly said.

"Because Wales has no service, this was virtually impossible," he added.

"The relapse rate was a real problem, for people who were being sent to London for treatment then coming back to Wales.

"It isn't possible to implement the guidelines in Wales.

I think the centre will be inundated with emergency referrals in the beginning Mark Reilly

"I think the centre will be inundated with emergency referrals in the beginning."

Joanne Ball, whose 18-year-old daughter Kirsty has suffered from anorexia for nearly seven years, said all children with eating disorders should be able to be treated close to home.

"Our daughter has just been taken to Northampton - if the place in Cardiff was up and running, it would have been brilliant," she said.

'Shame'

"[People] should be sent to a specialist service straight away. Any child that goes to the doctor showing anorexic tendencies should be dealt with by an anorexia specialist.

"They should be treated before it gets set into their mind. Wales definitely needs some kind of residential centre."

Dr Helen Holmes, a child and adolescent psychiatrist working in Cardiff, said: "Children and teenagers in Wales already receive a service from their local NHS child and adolescent mental health service.

"In addition the Harvey Jones Adolescent Unit in Cardiff runs a specialist NHS eating disorders clinic for adolescents with anorexia and severe bulimia, and can offer specialist advice to local services throughout south Wales.

"When in-patient treatment is required the Harvey Jones Adolescent Unit can also admit them.

"While I welcome additional eating disorders services for adults, it seems a shame that this has not been commissioned from the NHS, and that many patients have had to travel to England for treatment."