Eating disorders

Our teams offer the following services:

• Support for children and young people in Derby and southern Derbyshire with eating disorders – for more information, visit our CAMHS section. 
• Support for adults (18 years and older) across Derbyshire who are registered with a Derbyshire GP that falls within the Joined Up Care Derbyshire area – for more information, read on.

Adult eating disorders service

Our eating disorder service cares for adults with severe eating disorders living in Derby city and Derbyshire county. The service offers treatment to individuals with anorexia nervosa with a body mass index (BMI) of 16.9 and under. In some circumstances we also see people who present with physical health issues, for example diabetes or Crohn’s disease, at higher BMIs, and severe bulimia with physical health risks or those who are rapidly losing weight.

We may act in an advisory or consultative capacity with mainstream mental health services and primary care teams to support service users with eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa and binge eating disorders. 

The team is based at Unity Mill in Belper. However in order to make the service as accessible as possible to the communities we serve, team members may travel to healthcare settings across the city and county. 

We are a multidisciplinary team comprising psychologists, consultant psychiatry, CBT therapy, occupational therapy, specialist dieticians and nurse therapist.

Where appropriate we will facilitate and monitor admissions to specialist inpatient units and regularly liaise with commissioners to ensure admissions are timely and appropriate. We also work with the gastroenterology teams at both the Royal Derby Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

Find out more about eating disorders, the causes and how they affect people on the NHS website.

Working in partnership with First Steps  

Our Eating Disorders service works closely with First Steps ED to provide targeted intensive practical support in the community to enable service users to receive a specialist eating disorders pathway to progress towards recovery.

This joint service provides home and community supportive interventions from a variety of options agreed by the care co-ordinator as part of the Care Programme Approach (CPA) process, which may include: social activities, for example going to the cinema or for a walk, confidence building (around your needs), food shopping, preparing meals, eating at home or in public, volunteering and support to get back into work and/or education.

FREED (First episode Rapid Early intervention for Eating Disorders)

The Derbyshire Mental Health Helpline

If you are feeling distressed, anxious or feeling that you cannot cope, you can call The Derbyshire Mental Health Helpline and Support Services. It is a freephone service available to everyone living in Derbyshire, both to young people and adults. You can call on 0800 028 0077, it is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You may also call 111 or GP, when you require support for your mental health if there’s no immediate danger to your safety or the safety of others. Please call 999 or visit the Emergency Department at a local hospital, for any medical emergencies and life-threatening situations only, for example if you have taken an overdose or need urgent medical attention.

In addition, the following helpline numbers offer confidential, emotional support:

• Samaritans - 116 123 ( 24/7 telephone emotional support for anyone in emotional distress)
• Papyrus HOPELine UK (under 35s) – 0800 068 4141 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm and 7pm-10pm. Weekends 2pm-5pm_
• Mind - 0300 123 3393 or text 86463 (Mental health advocacy support and information
• Beat (Eating Disorders charity) – 0808 801 0677 (open daily from midday-midnight during the week; 4pm-midnight on weekends and bank holidays)