Welcome to Anorexia and Bulimia Care

EDA is one of only two UK national eating disorders organisations and has over 55 years of experience.

We provide on-going care, emotional support and practical guidance for anyone affected by eating disorders. We support and care for those struggling personally and resource and equip parents, families, friends and professionals through our dedicated services: national helplines (a support line and a family and friends’ line); a unique befriending service for those suffering and a separate service for parents; nutritional support and advice; professional training on eating disorders and self-harm; self-help guides and published literature; resources for students and young people via the ‘tbh’ blogsite, EDA’s Student Guide; an online education platform for family, friends, students and professionals. EDA is passionate about people and recovery.

 

EDA News

EDA's Campaign for Change 2014

On Monday 27th October, Tessa Munt MP launched EDA’s Campaign for Change reception at the House of Commons. Following on from EDA’s recent research study into primary care for eating disorders and the publicity generated by interviews with BBC Radio 4 for Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Scotland, the focus of EDA’s November Action Month 2014 is ‘Something has to Change.’ 

Our survey proved the anecdotal evidence from the thousands annually to our helplines that patients spend far too long waiting for treatment after GP referral, the majority at least over a month and many 4 months, 6 months and even 9 months.

GPs are vital as they bear the brunt of the professional support during the wait and even after, providing vital medical monitoring to protect people’s hearts and minds from an ever decreasing BMI and yet over a third of patients revealed that they were never offered any medical monitoring at all for their condition. 

Sadly a fifth of respondents said that their GP was not kind, caring, knowledgeable or proactive, and the vast majority (88%) said that no advice was offered to their parents or partners – the very people who offer the vital support and encouragement and who need advice and care themselves. This feedback is not to apportion blame but to enable change to take place.

1) Most patients (51%) spent less than 10 minutes with their GP during their initial consultation
2) More than half (55%) had to go back multiple times before getting a referral.
3) Once they’d been referred, 48% had to wait over a month before their treatment started.
4)     The research also shows that the majority (63%) of patients don’t feel their GP offered suitable help or advice  about their condition 
5) 41% weren’t even referred to a specialist at all.  

Research was carried out by Vision Critical for EDA: Eating Disorder Advice and cannot be reproduced without permission. For full details of the results, please email Imogen Smith, Communications and Campaigns Manager at Imogen@eatingdisordersadvice.co.uk

 

A Year in a Tent for EDA – Fat, Fifty and Homeless

Mark Fordham, whose daughter May (now 22) suffered with anorexia when she was 14, is embarking on a year-long fundraising adventure for EDA.

To kick off EDA’s November Action Month, Mark is living in a tent for a whole year to raise the £200,000 needed to create EDA support bases in every county! Every month he will be visiting two counties and is aiming to raise £5,000 per county through fundraising events and community sponsorship. 

My tent represents a mobile EDA hub, which goes county to county. EDA has 60 Ambassadors in the UK but no physical base for them regionally, which they need desperately. The EDA Ambassador provides the support in the community for those struggling and their families, which NHS services seem currently unable to provide. Each month I am going to cover two counties and create fundraising challenges and events in each one of them. The well-established and ongoing support of Waitrose for EDA will enable me to achieve this community-based work. These fundraising efforts will range from coffee mornings to outdoor activities that our supporters want to put on to strengthen EDA. There can even be inter-county challenges and competitions. I’m hoping to raise £5,000 in each county I visit throughout the year.”

If you have a fundraising idea for Mark or know of a great place he can pitch his tent, email us at events@eatingdisordersadvice.co.uk 

You can read Mark’s article for MSN here: http://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/familyhealth/how-to-cope-when-your-child-has-anorexia/ar-BBbHDrM

 

 

 

 

 

 

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