Hundreds of Sunshine Coast residents with eating disorders will get access to improved healthcare under a $3.2 million pilot project launched on Tuesday.
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The two-year project, funded by the federal government, will aim to better equip local doctors to identify, diagnose and refer patients with eating disorder symptoms.
![One in 20 Australian women admit to having suffered from an eating disorder, according to the Centre for Excellence in Eating Disorders. Photo: Angela Wylie One in 20 Australian women admit to having suffered from an eating disorder, according to the Centre for Excellence in Eating Disorders. Photo: Angela Wylie](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/a0989ea9-21dd-45b4-9e86-ba6421a73afb/r0_0_729_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or other complex eating disorders would be offered up to 50 psychotherapy sessions, more than five times the number of sessions offered now under Medicare.
Eating disorders, including bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorders, have one of the highest death rates of any psychiatric disorder.
Research suggests a minimum of 20 sessions of therapy, which challenges learnt ways of thinking, is necessary, with more severe cases often requiring double the number of sessions.
Eating disorder advocate group Butterfly Foundation chief executive Christine Morgan said most frontline staff were ill-equipped to diagnose disorders.
“The challenge we have is that GPs and other health professionals to date have not had included in their undergraduate courses any training on eating disorders,” she said.
“They don’t know what to look for, they don’t know what questions to ask and even if they do diagnose it, they don’t know where to refer people to.
“The state-based services have been doing a really good job at looking at what can we do at the tertiary level.
“But at the primary health level, the federally funded level, it has been much more difficult to get these services into play.”
She said present treatment plans did not provide an “easy fit”, with eating disorders requiring a multi-disciplinary approach, including physical, psychotherapeutic and nutritional needs.
“You cherry-pick, you put a few pieces together and you come out way short of what is needed,” she said.
The Butterfly Foundation will receive $1.4 million to provide a six-month education and awareness program to doctors and the Sunshine Coast Primary Health Network will receive $1.8 million to commission services and engage with health professionals.
Member for Fisher Andrew Wallace said the trial would change the “deadly situation” of more than three-quarters of eating disorder sufferers going undiagnosed.
“I am delighted that 240 people on the Sunshine Coast are going to get the treatment they need through this pilot project, and I look forward to seeing how the results can help thousands more throughout the country,” he said.
Sunshine Coast Primary Health Network chief executive Pattie Hudson thanked the survivors of eating disorders who had informed the trial model.
“We really acknowledge sincerely the resilience and bravery and passion of people with lived experience and their carers and families,” she said.
“It is through them sharing their stories and journeys with us that allows us to work with them to design and make changes to new models of care for eating disorders.”
The trial will accept patients towards the end of the year and take referrals until about 2020.
Federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt said an evaluation of the trial would inform support for patients with eating disorders more broadly.
“Last year I requested the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review Taskforce investigate options for Medicare coverage for the treatment needs of those people with an eating disorder,” Mr Hunt said.
“The task force is currently in the process of establishing the Eating Disorders Working Group …(which) will provide advice on whether existing MBS items identified are appropriate for the treatment of eating disorders and options to better align the MBS with national standards for safe integrated treatment of eating disorders.”
Shadow Minister for Mental Health Julie Collins said while Labor welcomed the trial, she raised concerns at the length of time it had taken for the Turnbull government to take action.
“In May 2017, Minister Hunt recommended the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce investigate options for Medicare coverage for the treatment needs of those living with an eating disorder,” she said.
“Nearly one year later, the Medicare Task Force Clinical Committee finally met for the first time to look into this.”