News
Ramsay Clinic Hollywood’s Optimised Eating Disorder Program to be showcased on international stage
Jun 16, 2022
The results from an optimised eating disorder program at Ramsay Clinic Hollywood will be showcased at the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ International Congress 2022 in Edinburgh from June 20.
The optimised eating disorder program was introduced at the clinic in 2014 and the initiatives implemented resulted in an increased rate of weight restoration (0.6kg/week to 1.5kg/week) and a significant reduction in patients’ length of stay (52 days in 2013 to 24 days in 2017).
Clinical lead, Dr Vash Singh, said patients with eating disorders are often admitted to hospital for weight restoration and medical stabilisation.
“However, there are very few specialist eating disorder beds in WA, with Ramsay Clinic Hollywood providing the only 10 beds for patients over the age of 16 requiring admission,” Dr Singh said.
“There is therefore a strong clinical imperative to improve the efficiency of treatment in a hospital setting, in order for more seriously unwell eating disorder patients to have access to specialist care.”
Dr Singh said conservative treatment approaches and long lengths of stay have both direct and indirect costs for patients, hinder access to the service for potential patients and reduce service cost-effectiveness.
“Improved efficiency allowed for patients to remain in hospital until their weight was restored, which reduced the risk of readmission, and is something that very few eating disorder services in the country are able to achieve,” Dr Singh said.
The eating disorder program was optimised with initiatives such as:
- A rigorous assessment and review of previous treatment
- Consistency in approach and treatment
- Cohesive multidisciplinary trained specialists
- Involvement of family and carers
- Patient-centred and collaborative goal setting
- Robust, evidenced-based group therapy sessions
Dr Singh said the results were significant because they showed it is possible to lower the length of stay by increasing the rate of weight restoration, coupled with providing a consistent and structured treatment program.
Eating disorders worldwide affect about 8.4 per cent of women and 2.2 per cent of men and the prevalence is increasing.1
“Globally, the rates of admission for patients with anorexia nervosa has increased, but so too have multiple admissions per person,” Dr Singh said. “We need to prioritise efficiency in treatment settings, so as to allow more patients to access specialist care.”
Ramsay Clinic Hollywood is a voluntary, private adult eating disorder inpatient service in Nedlands. It is the only inpatient eating disorder specialist service for people over the age of 16, in both the private and public sectors in WA.
The results were from a retrospective review of date collected for all inpatients from 2013 to 2019. The outcomes evaluated were the global eating disorder scores, length of stay and number of readmissions.
Dr Singh said future studies would be undertaken to measure the incidence of refeeding syndrome and other adverse effects of a rapid refeeding protocol for adults.
1 Galmiche, M., Déchelotte, P., Lambert, G., & Tavolacci, M. P. (2019). Prevalence of eating disorders over the 2000-2018 period: a systematic literature review. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 109(5), 1402–1413. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqy342
Ramsay Clinic Hollywood Clinical Lead Dr Vash Singh.