Wiltshire patients looking to the future (From Wiltshire Times)

Wiltshire patients looking to the future

9:00am Sunday 8th November 2009 in News By Nigel Kerton

A patient at a new eating disorder unit that opened at Savernake Hospital a year ago summed up its success, saying: “I came in here with just a past but now I have a future.”

The Cotswold House unit is run by the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust, which has a national reputation for specialising in treating eating disorders.

It has run a unit called Cotswold House in Oxford for many years and opened its second 13 months ago at the Marlborough-based hospital to provide extra beds for eating disorder sufferers from all over the south Midlands and the south of England, including Wiltshire.

The Marlborough unit has 12 in-patient beds as well as facilities for four day patients.

About 30 staff provide a range of therapies to help patients either learn to live with their illness or, for some, make a complete recovery.

Manager Louise Tohill said that although all the admissions so far have been women, men with eating disorders could be treated there too.

Currently there are a couple of spare beds but the unit runs at full capacity most of the time.

Patients stay for anything from a few weeks to many months, with the average stay being about four months.

Mrs Cohill said she believed the unit was successfully treating a range of patients who have had eating disorders – mainly anorexia.

“The feedback we have had from patients is very positive,” said Mrs Tohill.

Twenty-three-year-old Vicki, from Swindon, has suffered with anorexia for about nine years.

She said: “I was very unhappy at school and it spiralled from there.”

Vicki was an in-patient from September to June and is now a day patient working towards a complete recovery.

She said: “I am aiming to get better and being here has made me realise it can and will happen.

“The support and encouragement I have received has been brilliant; there is always someone there if you are struggling or need a shoulder to cry on.

“I know that they won’t give up on me or let me give up.”

Mother-of-four Gillian, 54, was a professional stage actress and dancer.

She had been anorexic for 40 years and said she fought to get into Cotswold House in order to rebuild her life.

Gillian has been at the unit for 10 weeks and praised the treatment she is receiving.

She said: “When you come in here and feel absolutely helpless they give you a future to look forwards to.”