GPs’ Ignorance Hindering Referral To A Specialist For 3 out of 10 People Having Eating Disorders

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The statistics say that the population of the people suffering from varieties of eating disorders like Bulimia, Anorexia, binge eating, etc is more than 725,000 out of which some cases are very critical which needs proper special medical attention immediately. Yet, due to the ignorance of the medical guidance, almost 3 out of the 10 suffering subjects never get the chance to meet a specialist in this segment.

These types of problems often have a mental cause which must be tackled to cure the problem properly. The experts, who have been working on this problem, warned the GPs repeatedly and told to recognize the degree of the disorders. Once they find it critical, the subject must be sent for intensive medical attention immediately, revealed Mail Online.

A recent statistical result shows that the patients have received poor to very poor care from the GPs. In fact, 55% of the family physicians were not even able to recognize the seriousness of the problem hence failed to refer the patient to a specialist. 34% of the poll was lucky enough when their GPs knew to refer them and provided proper information regarding the inherent problem, reported The Guardian.

The cases are often complex which is why a small span of consultation will not help the patient. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chairman, Royal College of GPs depicted that the physicians are well-trained professionals who know how to take the physiological, psychological and social factors of a patient in the account. This data help them to diagnose the problem and figure out a treatment plan.

The Department of Health has advised to improve up the referral times for waiting in order to check the increase in eating disorder cases. New strategies will be implemented very soon which will provide support within a day. However, one must take the matter seriously and do the needful, in order to avoid the problem.