'Too complex' for the NHS - why am I being abandoned again?

"Due to the complexity of his needs... our service may not be able to provide the most appropriate or safe level of support."

This was the response I received from the Hertfordshire Community Eating Disorders Services after being referred there by my GP for help with my anorexia.

What these complexities are, it wasn't spelt out. Perhaps the clue was in this sentence: "We believe that accessing an eating disorder service closer to where he lives may be more suitable and better able to support his needs."

That sounds fine, until you remember my local NHS trust was so negligent that we threatened legal action against them, because they failed to offer anything even approaching a reasonable level of support and I nearly died when they should have been helping me. 

My BMI was closing in on single figures before an intervention took place, even as my family literally begged them to help (only to be repeatedly ignored).

Eventually, when I was finally looked after by a competent service (an inpatient unit in Chelmsford), and I enquired about community support after discharge, I was told by my local trust there would be no dietary input, no health checks and no idea what therapy might be offered. So it's no surprise I had no intention of working with them again.

But not to worry, I was told I would be able to access another community eating disorder service as the NHS will always be there for us when we need it. 

How wrong that's proven to be.

No other trust will now accept me, even when it was made clear why I can't go back to the one which covers where I live.

Currently, I am getting support from the private sector remotely through a consultant and therapist, with my GP monitoring my blood test results. It's a model which could be adapted by any trust in the country, but none are willing to do so. It means my family are having to fork out hundreds of pounds a month to make sure qualified professionals are keeping me safe.

And if that wasn't bad enough, I was promised going into an inpatient unit that referrals would be made for the NHS to support me with my FND (Functional Neurological Disorder) - a condition so severe that it makes daily living at times unbearable. 

But the reality has again been completely different with the NHS again not helping me, even though new NHS England guidelines have set out minimum service requirements so everyone with FND can access the right care.

It feels like being condemned to a lifetime of suffering.

The letter from Hertfordshire concluded: "We would recommend that you consider alternative services that are better placed to provide the level of care and monitoring he may require."

But those services don't exist. The NHS has abandoned me again. 

















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