CONSTRUCTION of the first publicly-funded residential eating disorder centre in NSW will soon begin in the Hunter.
Bronnie Taylor - the Minister for Women, Regional Health and Mental Health - hopes the new $13 million facility planned for Charlestown will help fill a gap for people who need specialised support for severe eating disorders across the state.
The new facility will offer the higher level of care that NSW residents have so far accessed at a Butterfly Foundation-owned centre in Queensland.
"We have seen a very sharp increase in eating disorders in NSW over a period of time, and it requires very specialised care," Mrs Taylor said. "When it gets to the point where you need an inpatient admission, we really didn't have anywhere in NSW that was sufficient to go. That's why we have been accessing a place in Queensland, and we have been funding those beds for people as well."
The Newcastle Herald was granted a glimpse at what the 12-bed facility, which will be accessed via Wansey Close off Dudley Road in Charlestown, will look like.
Mrs Taylor said Newcastle was chosen because of its ability to attract specialists and staff, but she hoped it would be the "first of many".
"It's important to get one on the ground," she said.
"We know that one of the most important things we can do is keep people out of hospital. But when they do need that admission, it's intensive, it's more long term, and it's not just the person who is suffering from the illness, but their family that we need to support as well."
Mrs Taylor said the facility would offer them a "web of support".
"It will be looking at that really holistic approach to care," she said.
"I'm hoping it will be a very successful model of care, and if it is successful and we continue to see this rise, we will have to look at more of these clinics around NSW."
Mrs Taylor said every quarter, more than 1600 people living with an eating disorder seek care from a NSW Hospital, mental health service or emergency department. She expects this new centre will be "pretty busy".
"It's really important in healthcare to have a centre of excellence," she said. "Even though that centre will be in Newcastle, what that means is if I'm a nurse down in Cooma and I'm really worried about someone, it then provides you with that clinical network to know that everybody that will be working at the centre will be absolute professionals and at the top of their field. So it not only becomes a referral service but an educational service for other clinicians right around the state."
Construction will begin this year and should be completed by mid-2023.
Butterfly Foundation Helpline: 1800 ED HOPE.
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