Media release from Sandra Walker, General Manager Specialist Mental Health Service, Canterbury District Health Board

South Island Eating Disorders Service patients and their families can be confident that the Service will continue to provide a high standard of clinical care despite the recent resignation of the Service's Clinical Head.

Because the Clinical Head was both a GP and psychiatrist, most eating disorders patients, who have been medically compromised, have been able to be treated entirely in the Eating Disorders Unit at the Princess Margaret Hospital.

The Eating Disorders Unit is a psychiatric unit. However some patients, who have been very unwell, have been admitted to Christchurch Hospital and transferred to TPMH when they were no longer medically compromised.

With the departure of the Clinical Head, people with eating disorders, who are medically unwell, will now be treated at Christchurch Hospital until they can be safely transferred to the Eating Disorders Service. While they are in Christchurch Hospital, their care will be shared by Christchurch Hospital staff and the clinical team in the Eating Disorders Service.

Access to the Service will remain the same as it has been and the amount of time spent in Christchurch Hospital or the Eating Disorders Unit will as usual be based entirely on the patient's need and level of recovery.

A number of permanent changes are however being considered to enhance the Eating Disorders Service for patients and allow it to be benchmarked against other services in New Zealand. Full consultation will be undertaken with stakeholders prior
to the implementation of any permanent change to the Service.

All of the changes are being led by clinicians and are still some way from being finalised.

It would be impossible to change a clinical service like this without a tremendous amount of input from local and regional experts in the field, as well as patients and their families.

Although the Clinical Head is leaving, there remains an excellent team of clinicians in the South Island Eating Disorders Service who are committed to ongoing improvement in the care and treatment of our patients.