Our Adult Eating Disorder Service is one of 18 services across the country to be awarded additional funding from NHS England to support young people in the early stages of eating disorders.
The service, known as First Episode Rapid Early Intervention for Eating Disorders (FREED), will target care to those who have been living with a condition for fewer than three years, to tackle problems before they escalate. Teens or young adults coming forward who would benefit from treatment will be contacted within 48 hours and treatment will begin as soon as two weeks later.
Justine Leonard, Director of Children’s and Young Peoples Services at Surrey and Borders said: “We are enormously proud of our Eating Disorders teams and their successful application to implement the national FREED service delivery model.
“This will allow us to achieve our long-held ambition to provide earlier intervention, achieve parity of access and consistent treatment and outcomes for young adults at the age of transition (16 to 25 years) at a time which can be particularly challenging for some young adults.”
FREED service is part of the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to provide an additional £1 billion a year by 2023/24 to expand and improve community mental health care so adults, including those with an eating disorder, can get earlier access to care, as close to home as possible.
Read the full FREED service funding announcement on the NHS England website.