Woman, 19, with eating disorder relives ‘disaster’ of falling through mental health gap

By Katherine Clementine

Gaps in mental health care in Wales left one patient relapsing and losing a year of her life in order to recover.

Georgia Taylor, now 19, from Bridgend, had been receiving support and care through CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) since the age of 14.

She had developed an eating disorder, which she says was a coping mechanism, while waiting for CAMHS help for anxiety.

After she finally got the consistent help she needed from CAMHS, she had to transfer to adult services where she said she got "lost in the system".

Georgia was sent nearly 100 miles away from home for specialist eating disorder inpatient care.

Georgia told ITV Wales' Sharp End: "I'd describe it as this grey space as it’s a very uncertain and unknown environment. You’re going from this consistent support system to not being sure when you’re going to get the help or if you’re going to get the help even."

When her eligibility for CAMHS ran out at age 18, she started her referral for adult services which wasn’t picked up for months. She started a degree at Cardiff University but had to pull out as her health deteriorated and was admitted to a psychiatric ward.

"As soon as adult services did pick me up, I was taken in to hospital that day because I was very, very sick. Very close to dying to be honest.

"When I was relapsing it took me a while to lose a lot of weight in order to become really unwell but it was only at that point then that I was noticed - whereas I think if I’d been caught earlier - at a higher BMI - I wouldn’t have had to get to the point of going into hospital for nine months."

Georgia says if she had been treated sooner she wouldn’t have got to the point of needing nine months hospitalisation.

In November 2021, Georgia reached "crisis point" and was admitted to a psychiatric ward at the Princess of Wales Hospital where her health declined to such an extent that her organs began to shut down.

The lack of a specialist eating disorder care at the hospital - and in the whole of Wales - meant she was transferred to an inpatient unit near Swindon where her journey of recovery began.

Georgia said: "Once I’d managed to get into Cotswold House - an eating disorder unit - I was finally getting the support I needed and it got me to where I am today.

She added: "There should always be a back up plan because it was an absolute disaster.

"It didn’t need to get to the point of me getting so unwell that I needed to go into hospital.

"I’d never had to go into hospital for my eating disorder before. I’ve always had an eating disorder but never to that severity. I don’t deal well with uncertainty so that was a massive trigger for me."

Now aged 19, Georgia has taken part in a Senedd evidence session in a bid to tackle mental health inequalities.

Georgia says her decline in health could have been prevented if there was a stable transition from CAHMS to adult services.

She added: "No one else should have to go through that because it’s taken a whole year out of my life where I’ve had to be in hospital and recover and I’m still in the process of recovery."

Since being discharged, Georgia has carried out volunteering work for the charity Mind Cymru and joined a group of young people to give evidence to the Senedd about the problems in transitioning between child and adult mental health services, as part of the mental health charity's Sort The Switch campaign.

Mind Cymru's Sort the Switch campaign urges the Welsh Government to:

  • Listen to and act on the voices of young people in Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (SCAMHS)

  • Make sure national guidance is delivered, and young people get the help they're entitled to.

  • Support young people when they leave SCAMHS. Help make the move to adult services a positive step in recovery.

  • Change the way services are run, to better involve young people’s voices.

A group of young people gave evidence to the Senedd as part of Mind Cymru's Sort The Switch campaign. Credit: ITV Wales

Megan also gave evidence to the Senedd. She said: "There is an age gap between us all so our transitioning period would have been two years apart and yet we've still had the same issues and there's been no change or any advancements in between."

And Fiona, who also shared her experiences with MS's, said the transition was a "really bad experience, especially the assessment."

She added: "It meant that when I had to access adult mental health services in the future when I was at university I felt a lot of fear and a lot of terror.

"I've been lucky enough that I'd never seen therapy as a scary thing until then but the idea that you have to convince someone that you're unwell enough to deserve help was not a nice feeling."

Mind Cymru said it put the voices of young people right at the centre of what it was doing - with them informing the campaign right from the outset.

Nia Evans, Manager, Children and Young People’s Mental Health, at Mind Cymru, said: "It was really important for us to do that.

"The fact that I'm even talking to you now about the transition as an area that needs improvement is testament to them and the fact that they raised this as an area that really needed improvement."

Lynne Neagle MS, Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, told the Senedd: "We know there is absolutely more work to be done on transitions and I am 100% committed to doing that work.

"We've had the workshops with the health boards. I am going to be meeting young people to talk about the young person's passport and I give you my commitment that we will improve transitions from children to adult mental health services."

You can see more on this story, plus the latest political discussion on Sharp End, on ITV1 - catch up here