North Cumbria Adult Eating Disorders Service

This leaflet will provide you with information that you may find useful whilst attending the service. If you are not sure about anything in this leaflet please ask a member of staff.

The NCAEDS provides support, advice and guidance to adults over the age of 18 years who have problematic relationships with food.

We also work with healthcare staff within Community Treatment Teams (CTTs) to provide:
• advice, guidance and training to practitioners in the Community Treatment Team
• and where appropriate, we will provide assessment and treatment services to service users in collaboration with Community Treatment Team practitioners

The service is for men and women aged over 18 years and registered with a GP (doctors surgery) in North Cumbria.

Your doctor or other professional who works with you may have suggested that the team could provide specialist help and have referred you to our service.

We will usually contact you by telephone to arrange a convenient appointment. If we are unable to contact you, we will send you out an appointment in the post. In some cases, it may be felt more appropriate for an initial assessment to be made by a Psychiatrist and you will be sent an appointment at an outpatient clinic.

If you wish, we can arrange to meet you online, your home address or at a different location, e.g., your doctor’s surgery. This appointment will last about an hour and is an opportunity for you to discuss your current difficulties. If you feel it would be helpful, a friend or relative can be with you for this appointment.

At this first appointment we will gather information about what your current difficulties are, along with some background information to come to a joint understanding of what may help you recover.

You will be part of any discussions we make as to what type of support is best for you. If it is decided that NCAEDS is the best source of support for you, we will arrange for a Practitioner to be allocated to work with you. This team member will become your Care Co-ordinator. They will offer you a further appointment and work with you to agree a care plan to help meet your individual needs. We hope to help you understand your current mental health difficulties and find solutions to support you on your road to recovery. Recovery is possible and can be achieved. Your Care Co-ordinator will also keep in contact with other professionals involved in your care.

There are a number of different staff who work in the team, including:
• Pathway Manager
• Advanced Dietician
• Community Mental Health Practitioners
• Psychological Therapists
• Consultant Psychiatrist
• Clinical Support Assistants
• Administrative support

We are an experienced team, specialising in eating disorders. Sometimes we have students from a range of differing mental health backgrounds working with us.
The team is available Monday – Friday, 9am–5pm, except bank holidays.

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorder (CBT-ED)
This is a long-term individual therapy which aims to reduce the risk to your physical health by teaching you about nutrition and new ways to think about food, your body image and self-esteem. You will be asked to monitor what you are eating and how this makes you feel.

• Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment in Adults (MANTRA)
MANTRA is specifically tailored for individuals with anorexia nervosa, and aims to address the cognitive, emotional, relational and biological factors which can maintain anorexia nervosa, by supporting individuals with finding alternative and healthy coping mechanisms.

• Specialist Supportive Clinical Management (SSCM)
The two aims of SSCM are to a) help people make a link between their symptoms and their eating behaviour and weight, and b) to support them in a gradual return to normal eating and weight restoration.

• Advanced dietetic services
The Advanced Dietitian provides Dietary Counselling, Supplementary Dietary Advice and Psychoeducation. The Advanced Dietitian is part of the NCAEDS multi-disciplinary team. This specialist input is suitable for service users with a higher nutritional risk.

• Physical Health Appointments
These will take place when you are referred and at various points through your treatment. A Psychiatrist will talk to you to find out when your difficulties first started and how it developed. The Psychiatrist will review your physical health and make recommendations based on the findings. The psychiatrist can diagnose and prescribe.

Everything you tell the team member and the information we keep about you is kept confidential within the team of professionals caring for you. The only exception to this would be if we felt there was a risk to yourself or to others, but we would discuss this with you.

You have a right to see any records we keep about you including the information held electronically.

Staff will give you a copy of the ‘Information that the Trust keeps about you’ leaflet. Copies are also available from the Patient Information Centre Tel: 0191 246 7288.

At your first appointment you will be given the choice of receiving copies of letters written by healthcare professionals about your care and we will ask you to sign a consent form for sharing information.

With your permission as part of our care we would like to offer an initial visit to get to know your partner and/or family and friends who are involved in supporting you to see if we can answer any questions they may have about our service or your care. We will discuss this with you at your initial assessment appointment.

Please give us a call to discuss, we’re happy to help.

If you need help urgently outside the hours of the NCAEDS, please call your doctor or your local Crisis Team (see numbers below). Your Care Co-ordinator will complete a contingency plan around any difficulties you may experience out of hours.

There are some helplines and organisations that can give you advice and support:

• Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Service – 0300 123 9015 / 0800 652 2865 (freephone number)
• B-eat (formerly the Eating Disorders Association). www.b-eat.co.uk/ Helpline adults: 0845 634 1414. B-eat youth helpline (under 25): 0845 634 7650. B-eat is the UK’s leading charity supporting anyone affected by eating disorders or issues with food, including families and friends.
• NHS 111. Call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency. Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.
• The Samaritans – 116 123. Email: [email protected] Website: www.samaritans.org

When your mental health is getting better, we will begin to prepare you for staying well in the future with a recovery action plan and moving on from our service. Sometimes this can be a discharge back to your GP, at other times you may need to have further support from another service. We will look at this together and we will identify what other support you might need, and we will arrange this with you.

Advocates can help you with a range of issues from making an independent complaint about your care and treatment, carer advocacy as well as general support. Staff will give you a copy of ‘Do you need an Independent Mental Health Advocate?’ leaflet, copies are also available from the Patient Information Centre Tel: 0191 246 7288

Sometimes people can feel anxious about coming to our groups and clinics because of a range of worries. We would be keen for you to raise any of the concerns you have with us to see if we can support you with them. Please do let us know if there is anything further we can assist you with to make you more comfortable.

If you require an interpreter staff can arrange to book an appointment.

Website:www.traveline.info/

• Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
-Tel: 0191 246 6800

• The Patient and Carer Involvement Service – Tel: 01670 501 816
Involving patients, carers and their families in making decisions about their care, can lead to better outcomes and a better overall experience. The Patient and Carer Involvement Service co-ordinate and facilitate involvement, as well as providing training and support to those who wish to help the Trust shape service design and delivery. To find out more information visit our webpage:www.cntw.nhs.uk/involvement/ or email: [email protected]

• PALS – (Patient advice and liaison service)
Tel: 0800 328 4397
Provides information and advice about local NHS services and support organisations and helps sort out problems with NHS services

• People First – NHS Complaints Advocacy Tel: 0300 303 8037
This service helps you to raise complaints about treatment that you have received from the NHS.

If you want to make a comment, suggestion, compliment or complaint you can:
• talk to the people directly involved in your care
• ask a member of staff for a feedback form, or complete a form on the Trust website www.cntw.nhs.uk (click on the ‘Contact Us’ tab)
• telephone the Complaints Department 0191 245 6672
• email [email protected] Please note that information sent to the Trust via email is sent at your own risk
• We are always looking at ways to improve services. Your feedback allows us to monitor the quality of our services and act upon issues that you bring to our attention.
You can provide feedback in the following ways:
– the quickest way for you to do this is to complete our short online survey at www.cntw.nhs.uk/poy
– complete a Points of You survey, available from staff.

• NICE: Eating Disorders (CG9) Eating Disorders: Core interventions in the treatment and management of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related eating disorders (2004)

Further information about the content, reference sources or production of this leaflet can be obtained from the Patient Information Centre. If you would like to tell us what you think about this leaflet please get in touch.

This information can be made available in a range of formats on request (eg Braille, audio, larger print, easy read, BSL or other languages). Please contact the Patient Information Centre
Tel: 0191 246 7288

Published by the Patient Information Centre
2022 Copyright, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Ref, PIC/877/0722 July 2022 V1
www.cntw.nhs.uk Tel: 0191 246 7288
Review date 2025