CAMHS Eating Disorder Service

Welcome to the CAMHS eating disorder website. Here you’ll find information for young people, families and professionals, where there is concern that a young person may have an eating disorder.

What we do

The Child & Adolescent Eating Disorder Service encourages early intervention and provides prompt support and treatment for young people and families experiencing eating disorders. The service aims to restore physical health and psychological wellbeing in a safe and collaborative manner, within a culture of continuous learning and innovation.

The service accepts referrals of suspected eating disorders from GPs, other professionals involved with young people, such as school nurses as well as self-referrals from young people and their parents.

You and your family may be invited to attend an assessment to find out what you are struggling with and work out how we can help. This may involve regular family and individual support over a period of weeks or months.

Who we are

We are a team who work together to treat eating disorders in young people, including psychologists, psychiatrists, paediatricians, nurses, dietician, family therapists and admin staff.

Who we support

The service supports young people with eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or atypical eating disorders) and their families.

In all of these conditions, the young person will have significant concerns about their weight and shape. The service is not commissioned to see young people with obesity or those who have feeding or eating problems related to other diagnoses (such as anxiety, depression, or ASD) where the core problem is not an over-evaluation of weight and shape.

The CAMHS eating disorder service  supports young people who:

• are under the age of 18
• are registered to a GP located in Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire
• have a suspected eating disorder as a primary problem: symptoms include avoidance or restriction of food, loss of weight, fear of weight gain, bingeing or purging, concerns about weight/shape

Young people approaching the age 18 may transition to adult services.

What treatments we provide

Treatment may involve different therapeutic approaches, depending on your child’s need. Treatment will be overseen by the care coordinator who will see you regularly, coordinate the care from other members of the team and set up review meetings.

Where we work

Specialist assessment and treatment of eating disorders will be undertaken for those under the age of 18 across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The service has central bases in Oxford and Aylesbury with satellite clinics in Banbury, Abingdon, Wycombe and Amersham.

Joint care with CAMHS

Once the referral has been assessed by the CAMHS ED service, any further blood investigations will ordered by the Eating Disorder Service and the patient asked to attend the phlebotomist at their local GP practice or Paediatrics outpatients. In rare circumstances the GP may be asked to regularly review the young person’s weight and physical health (if the patient will not engage with CAMHS and is at risk, but will agree to be reviewed by the GP).

Care Programme Approach

The young person will be treated within a CPA framework. This is a structured approach to care, involving the allocation of a care-coordinator, creating a care plan and having regular reviews. The GP may be invited to join CPA reviews, particularly at the time of discharge. If the GP is unable to attend the review, a clinician from the ED service may approach the GP for an update or to share information.

Resources