Introduction to the Eating Disorder Service

The Eating Disorder Service provides treatments for a wide range of eating disorders across Cheshire, Wirral, Bolton, Trafford, Warrington, Stockport and Halton. We have a 14 bed inpatient ward in Clatterbridge.

Assessment and Treatment

After we receive your referral, you may be offered an assessment. Following this you may be offered guidance or self-help materials as well as information on alternative resources or services that could help you.

You may be offered treatment within the Eating Disorder Service including medical, dietetic and talking therapies that would best meet your individual needs. The type and frequency of appointments will be discussed with you in more detail.

Throughout this time we will regularly review your progress which will usually involve completing some standard questionnaires as well as reviewing your progress towards your goals.

Missed Appointments

In order to reduce the waiting time to access treatment due to unused appointments, the service operates a missed appointments policy.

How can you help?

Please ensure that you make every effort to attend all of your planned appointments and arrive on time.

If you are not able to attend a planned appointment for any reason, please let the service know as soon as possible. If you have further questions, please ask to speak to a member of the team.

Attendance at Appointments
  • If you do not attend your initial appointment, and do not contact us within 3 days, you will be discharged from the service and your GP will be informed. You may also be discharged if you fail to attend subsequent appointments and fail to make contact within 3 days.
  • If, in exceptional circumstances, you need to cancel an appointment, please give at least 24 hours’ notice. Late cancellations may be counted as missed appointments. Please make any cancellations as early as possible, as this helps us to give the appointment to another client.
  • Once your treatment has commenced, it is important you attend regularly. Once you have an agreed plan of treatment, you may be discharged for failing to attend 2 of your sessions in a row, or 4 sessions during your whole treatment.
  • If you fail to attend a treatment appointment which is part of an agreed set of sessions, it will still be counted as one of your contracted sessions. This includes appointments for courses and workshops.
  • Short notice cancellations (less than 24 hours) may also be counted as one of your sessions.
  • If you are discharged from our service, we will let your GP practice know. To access the service again, you will then need to see your GP and request a re-referral. Sometimes, on rereferral, you may then be subject to a modest wait before treatment, depending on the demands on the service at that time.
  • Receiving help for eating problems can be challenging and sometimes people decide that the time is not right for them. If this ever applies to you, please discuss it openly with your worker. You can then be given the relevant help and advice to manage your symptoms when discharged. We also value any feedback you have about your treatment, as this helps us to continually improve the services we offer.

If you would like this information in another format, please speak to a member of CWP staff or e-mail cwp.info@nhs.net. 
Oct 2022, Vesion 1