Number of referrals and admissions of people with eating disorders (FOI)

​Request

A.

How many referrals have been made to specialists at the Hospital for teenagers with eating disorders in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014?

B.

How many referrals have been made to specialists at the Hospital for adults with eating disorders in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014?

C.

The number of hospital admissions for teenagers (age 13-19) with eating disorders in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

D.

The total number of hospital admissions for adults with eating disorders in 2011, 2012, 2012 [2013] and 2014.

Response

A.

Health and Social Services (HSSD) does not have a central point of referral for patients with these types of conditions. They could be referred to different departments depending on the patient's GP and assessment of their clinical needs. Also, a person may be referred to multiple departments by their GP. HSSD does not have access to GP records. Therefore, to locate all patients and, or, clients with the diagnosis of an eating disorder would exceed the 12.5 hour limit under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (see exemption and refusal section below).

Patients may be referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) who assist clients with eating disorders, the paediatric consultants (if under 18) and / or the dieticians. These departments do not routinely collate statistics on eating disorders and to do so would require a manual trawl through individual client records. This would require excessive administrative time. Therefore, to locate all patients and/or clients with the diagnosis of an eating disorder would exceed the 12.5 hour limit under the law (see exemption and refusal section below).

B.

Adults (18 to 64) may also be referred to the Adult Mental Health Service and figures across 2010 to 2014 are provided below. A further breakdown will not be provided as this could allow identification of individuals and is exempt under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Female Anorexia Nervosa: 15
Male Anorexia Nervosa: <5
Female Bulimia: 23
Male Bulimia: <5

C.

2011: <5 (From July)
2012: 0
2013: 5
2014: 7

D.

2011: <5 (From July)
2012: 14
2013: 16
2014: 8

Notes: Figures are provided for admissions where an eating disorder (Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia or ‘Other Eating Disorder’) was recorded as a primary or secondary diagnosis. This does not necessarily mean that the patient was admitted because of an eating disorder and some patients may have been admitted more than once in a year. Between July 2011 and December 2014, there were 5 people admitted to hospital with Bulimia or Anorexia Nervosa as a primary diagnosis. Due to the introduction of the TrakCare patient administration system, figures are provided from July 2011.

Exemption and Refusal

Article 25 Personal information

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if:

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information