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Eating Disorders Outpatient Service (Maudsley Hospital)

How our service can help you

We offer assessment and treatment options for people with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, mixed eating disorder symptoms (‘other specified feeding or eating disorders’). We aim to provide evidence-based care packages tailored to the needs of patients and their families/carers. In some cases, we may offer evidence-based self-help resources rather than direct treatment with our team. This is currently our first line offer for binge eating disorder and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).

Our service is internationally renowned for its research and at the forefront of treatment development, having generated much of the evidence underpinning contemporary eating disorder treatments. If you would like to know more about our research, or for clinical information, please visit: Eating Disorders Research Group.

We see adults of all ages. We are proud to serve a culturally and ethnically diverse catchment area and are happy to arrange interpreters if needed. We do not currently take national referrals, we only accept referrals from the following London boroughs; Bexley, Bromley; Croydon; Greenwich; Lambeth; Lewisham and Southwark.

We have several pathways to tailor care within the service. These are not separate referral pathways but help us to adapt existing evidence-based eating disorder treatments to the needs of different patient groups:

  • First Episode Rapid Early Intervention for Eating Disorders (FREED) – an early intervention model and care package for patients up to age 25 who have had an eating disorder for <3 years.
  • Pathway for Eating Disorders and Autism Developed from Clinical Experience (PEACE) – a way of tailoring eating disorder care to consider co-occurring autism.
  • Supporting Trauma Interventions for Disordered Eating Pathway (STRIDE) – a way of tailoring eating disorder care to consider co-occurring trauma.

Referrals

Download our referral form:  Eating Disorder Referral Form

Email the team: slm-tr.eatingdisorders@nhs.net

  • Treatment type: Outpatient

  • Contact the service

    Site Location: Maudsley Hospital Email: slm-tr.eatingdisorders@nhs.net Phone Number: 020 3228 3180
  • Disabled Access:

    Yes
  • Address: Middle House
    Maudsley Hospital
    Denmark Hill,
    London,
    SE5 8AZ
  • Business Hours/Visiting Hours:

    Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm.  Limited 8am appointments are available.

    • Other essential information

  • Conditions: Addictions, Anxiety, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism, Bipolar disorder, Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), Childhood degenerative disorders, Conduct disorder, Dementia, Depression, Dissociative disorders, Eating disorders, Learning disabilities, Neuropsychiatry, Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), Perinatal disorders, Persistent physical symptoms, Personality disorders, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Psychosexual, Psychosis, Self-harm

Interventions

  • Assessment with an eating disorder clinician, which covers eating disorder symptoms, other areas of difficulty, and medical assessment
  • Formulation of diagnosis and treatment plan
  • Self-help
  • Guided self-help
  • Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-ED)
  • Individual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Eating Disorders (CBT-ED)
  • Maudsley Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA)
  • Family therapy
  • Other individual psychological therapies may be offered when clinically indicated, including.
    • Cognitive analytic therapy
    • Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy alongside CBT-ED
    • Focal psychodynamic psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa
    • Schema therapy
  • Adapted treatment for those who are autistic
  • Adapted treatment for those who have experienced trauma
  • Specialist dietetics
  • Occupational therapy
  • Carers skills workshops and support groups
  • Multidisciplinary input
  • Liaison with outside agencies
  • Longstanding Eating Disorders Clinic for enduring eating disorders not manageable in primary care due to high risk

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility criteria

  • 18 years and over
  • Registered with a GP in the south-east London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham or Southwark
  • Suspected diagnosis of
    • Anorexia Nervosa
    • Bulimia Nervosa
    • Binge eating disorder (please note we are currently sending self-help material for those with binge eating disorder)
    • Mixed eating disorder / eating disorder not otherwise specified / other specified feeding or eating disorder

Exclusion criteria

  • Obesity, without an eating disorder
  • A major psychiatric or physical disorder requiring treatment before the eating disorder can be addressed, e.g., current active psychosis or significant substance dependence

Outcomes

  • Maintain patients within the community
  • Provide a full and thorough assessment with recommendations
  • Greater psychological functioning and wellbeing
  • Improvement and remission of eating disorder symptoms
  • Improved physical health
  • Work with close others/carers/families to enable support in the home, where appropriate
  • Stabilise long-standing eating disorders patients to decrease number of admissions or reduce lengths of stay

Care Pathways

A GP, IAPT or community mental health team referral is needed including details of eating disorder symptoms, height/weight and recent blood results, using our referral form (please email slm-tr.eatingdisorders@nhs.net  to request a copy of this). Referrals are screened and, if accepted, placed on the appropriate assessment waiting list. The referrer and patient will then be notified of the likely waiting time. We will discuss appropriate treatment options and associated waiting times during the assessment.

Our experts

  • Prof Ulrike Schmidt Ulrike Schmidt OBE MD PhD FRCPsych FMedSci FAED, Professor of Eating Disorders, King's College London Director, Centre for Research in Eating and Weight Disorders, Consultant Psychiatrist
  • Dr Nikola Kern, Clinical Lead and Consultant Psychiatrist, Adult Eating Disorders
  • Dr Gemma Peachy, Consultant Psychiatrist, Outpatients and Enhanced Treatment team
  • Dr Felicity Callander, Consultant Psychiatrist, Outpatients
  • Dr Camilla Day, Consultant Psychiatrist, Outpatients and Day Services
  • Dr Lucy Stephenson. Consultant Psychiatrist, Outpatients
  • Dr Karina Allen, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Outpatients
  • Caroline Norton, Senior Practitioner, Adult Eating Disorders
  • Mary James, Clinical Service Lead, Outpatients and Day services
  • Caroline Pimblett, Lead Dietician. Outpatient and Day Service