Albury MP Justin Clancy calls for co-ordinated approach to eating disorders

Hearing first-hand the plight of families prompted Mr Clancy to address Parliament last week, calling for a greater focus by the state government on the provision of services to Albury.

He said eating disorder services had "low visibility in this community".

"People find the elements piece by piece, and there can be conflicting decisions between the various services, despite what I am certain to be good intentions and efforts of healthcare providers," Mr Clancy said.

"The Albury community has raised concerns that it does not have the benefit of an eating disorder co-ordinator to oversee a local service plan."

Mr Clancy's address comes on the back of widespread concerns across the mental health sector about the dramatic rise in eating disorders post COVID-19.

Albury-Wodonga headspace consortium chair and Australians for Mental Health board member Stuart Baker said eating disorders were the biggest emerging issue facing communities everywhere.

"The presentation of eating disorders is through the roof," he said.

"It's troubling because they are complex illnesses and, what we know about eating disorders, is there is no easy fix."

Mr Baker said community based solutions were essential and calls for specialist co-ordinated services closer to home were "on the right track".

Mr Clancy said he had made representations to the NSW health minister to ensure Albury residents did not miss out on the "equitable" provision of services.

"NSW has a well-developed plan in relation to eating disorders: the NSW Service Plan for People with Eating Disorders 2021-2025," he pointed out.

"Under that plan we are to see the development of local service and workforce development plans for people with eating disorders in every local health district in NSW."

But Mr Clancy has questioned whether Albury is receiving those services.

And from the feedback he's getting from families, there is not the a co-ordinated framework in place to ensure there are the pathways to getting the right help at the right time in the right place.

"Co-ordination, wraparound support services, visibility and expert treatment near home are needed," he said.

"Eating disorders impact over one million Australians.

"They are complex mental disorders that result in significant physical impairment and have high rates of mortality and low rates of early detection and intervention."

Mr Clancy stressed that awareness and education about what services were already available in the community was important - but it wasn't enough.

He acknowledged there was a challenge between what services were available locally and what needed to be done much better.

"We need to discuss this further with key stakeholders but the theme here is a greater sense of co-ordination between services and identifying the gaps in the provision of services," he said.

"The other important factor is early intervention.

"The challenge is that if we are waiting to address this at an acute level, then we are well behind."

Mr Clancy acknowledged the ongoing advocacy of Indi MP Helen Haines, who has made a concerted effort to elevate the the issue at a federal level.

In 2022, Ms Haines led a forum to build the case for the federal government to fund a specialist treatment and recovery clinic for eating disorders on the Border.

Mr Clancy said cross-border and state/federal collaboration was essential to improving outcomes for Border communities.

"I acknowledge the efforts of the Butterfly Foundation (and) Helen Haines and the families and practitioners who have opened their lives and their stories to me as we all work for better days ahead."

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