System failing eating disorder sufferers: Mum

The public health system is failing people who suffer from eating disorders.

A Northland mum says the public health system is failing eating disorder sufferers after her teenage daughter was diagnosed with anorexia.

The treatment her 15-year-old daughter requires, known as family-based therapy, is not currently available in Northland.

The teenager is now one of two people receiving private treatment funded by the Northland District Health Board.

"We're really failing our anorexia sufferers," the woman said. "Really, there is very little support up here, which is through no fault of the DHB."

The woman did not want to be named as it would identify her daughter, who was diagnosed in February.

In a recent letter to the family, a specialist from the Regional Eating Disorder Service in Auckland recommended family-based therapy to treat the teenager.

"Family-based treatment is the evidence-based treatment for anorexia nervosa with the best demonstrated outcomes in terms of efficacy and relapse prevention," Dr Maugan Rimmer wrote.

The therapy is targeted towards children and adolescents with the family unit at the centre of the treatment process. However, the only person trained in it in Northland left in February.

Northland District Health Board group manager of mental health and addictions services John Wade said two people would be trained in family-based therapy and supervised by a specialist from Auckland.

"Eating disorder is a highly specialised treatment area which has recently started to receive greater recognition and responsiveness from the Ministry of Health," Mr Wade said. "New Zealand, however, is still developing a workforce with the expertise to meet the service demands."

The Northland teenager was diagnosed by a paediatrician with an interest in mental health.

She was being seen by a community mental health nurse before the DHB decided to fund a private specialist to travel from Auckland.

The mother said she only got this because of her persistence.

"I feel privileged that we have been approved for this but I feel desperate for those other families," she said.

"I think we're just the tip of the iceberg."

Patients of the previous family-based therapy practitioner were assigned to general clinicians who provided other general therapies.