"Anorexia Nervosa"

My 16 year old daughter has been suffering from Anorexia Nervosa (Annie as we call it) since she was 12 years old.

She was not responding to treatment at home and eventually She was admitted to The Priory Altrincham in-patient unit aged only 13; had to be fed through a Naso-gastric tube for 9 weeks; and spent 24 weeks 3 days in hospital.

Whilst in hospital she lost the most weight that she has ever done and managed to lose nearly 3 kilo's in 10 days despite been on Red & Amber alert and having 24 hour a day care. (The most she had ever lost in a week before was 0. 3 of a kilo) Because of the severe weight loss she had to be fitted with an NG tube and it took 3 attempts to get the tube in and it scratched all the back of her throat; there was a reason for this, as the next day I was informed that the tube that they had put up my daughters nose and down her throat was "the wrong one" it was a drainage tube. The next day I had to make the 80 mile round trip again to be there when they put the correct tube in.

The level of care she received varied, some of the psychiatric nurses were very good; however there were a lot of "bank staff" who did not have a good understanding of eating disorders and did not really know how to look after an ED sufferer. The staff did not listen to me as her parent and the family therapist" saw things" that weren't there and ignored things that my daughter brought up and did not help her deal with them.

My daughter was eventually allowed to come home on leave and this built up to 3 nights at home and 4 nights on the unit. I soon noticed that she was losing weight when I returned her to the unit; the reason for this is because the staff did not lock her door when they were supposed to and she was then able to purge after meals; something that she had not previously done as she had previously restricted.

The staff would check her bags when she returned to the unit after a period of home leave and not take her razor off her as she wasn't at risk for self-harm. Yet other patients who were at risk were able to access her room and could have taken this very easily.

Returning to the unit after a period of home leave was not doing her any good as she had to sit eating full portion meals next to new admissions who were only on quarter portions; this made her feel, fat, greedy, ugly and then lead her to overexercise and purge.

During the time in hospital she only every had three "CPA" care plan assessments and in the third one we were told that she was not responding to treatment and that she seemed to be doing better at home. Therefore they were discharging her, not in a months time over a phased discharge. She was discharged there and then on a Friday afternoon. I was told that her therapist at our local CAMHS team would sort out her aftercare and would be in touch. Within 30 minutes my daughter was back in my care and very, very scared at her abrupt discharge