, who want access to eating disorder services 'without the focus being on full recovery or weight gain'. The resulting protocol – called a 'SEED pathway' – is not mandatory, and the extent to which it has been implemented in the East of England region is uncertain. It proposes interventions including 'physical health monitoring', 'motivational interviewing' and 'palliative care interventions focused on pain and symptom management'. Under the heading 'palliative care referrals/considerations' the document gives three criteria by which services might identify appropriate candidates for referral. These include the 'need to meet criteria of local palliative care team', 'evidence person is approaching end of life/prognosis is poor, and 'evidence of previous [multi-disciplinary team] outcomes suggesting patient no longer for recovery focused care' [sic]. 'Most patients fit this criteria' Hope Virgo, the mental health campaigner, who has recovered from severe anorexia, told the Telegraph that 'unfortunately, there's likely going to be a point with anorexia that most patients fit this criteria. 'We look like we're dying){kind=link}
Leading psychiatrist calls for ‘alarming’ guidelines to be repealed and Tory MP says putting sufferers on palliative pathway is ‘horrific’
Patients as young as 18 who are at risk of dying from anorexia may be given palliative care rather than treatment to prolong life under new NHS guidance seen by the Telegraph.
The leaked document sets out how patients with severe eating disorders can be placed on a “palliative pathway”, with treatment no longer aimed at pursuing recovery through re-feeding.
On Saturday, a leading eating disorder psychiatrist called for the “alarming” guidelines to be repealed, while a senior MP described putting anorexia sufferers on a palliative pathway as “horrific”.
The document is understood to have been made available last year to NHS England’s clinical network in the East of England, a group bringing together service providers and commissioners.