Middlewood Clinic provides care and treatment for men and women who have an eating disorder including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and atypical eating disorders. Our approach is to restore a healthy body weight and address psychological problems during treatment.

The Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) at Middlewood Clinic is made up of the Registered Manager, Consultant Psychiatrist, Nurses, Healthcare Workers, Psychologist, Dietician, Occupational Therapist and Social Worker.

The hospital has 12 comfortable ensuite bedrooms and a variety of communal and recreational spaces including lounge areas, a light and airy dining room, activities room, visitors room, therapy rooms, therapy kitchen area and a lovely cottage style garden.

The hospital is situated in the picturesque village of Midhurst, West Sussex. Midhurst is a thriving market town in the heart of the South Downs, built around a market square, packed with Tudor buildings and historic architecture.  Middlewood Clinic is in the heart of the community with easy access for the people we support and their families.

Model of Care

Each person’s recovery is unique and can be influenced by a wide number of factors, including complexity, readiness to engage with treatment, feeling safe and supported, therapeutic alliance, physical state, family dynamics, previous trauma, and other associated root causes of their illness.

The MDT use a range of skills and approaches to encourage and empower individuals to engage with treatment to develop a sense of self-determination and hope with meaningful goals to work towards. The key elements of our model include consideration of goals, pathways and processes, treatments, and evaluation of care.

Our model is guided by the following guiding principles:

• We provide services based on evidence
• Co-production occurs with the individual, their family where appropriate, and the referrer
• We provide safe and effective services that avoid harm to service users both physically and psychologically and where the least restrictive options are employed in the treatment plan
• The care we provide is equitable and does not vary in quality because of a person’s characteristics
• We work in partnership with referring community teams and other relevant agencies to collaborate around treatment and discharge plans
• Our staff treat people with compassion, dignity, and respect
• Our services are timely and responsive to people’s needs and choices

Aims 

Our aim is to provide high quality care and treatment which supports individuals to re-establish eating and maintain a healthy weight before a successful and sustainable discharge home. We support people in a safe and homely environment. We work with everyone to help diminish their distress and help them achieve a better quality of life. For most people, this will involve the reduction of emotional behaviours associated with the eating disorder psychopathology and acquiring new skills necessary for surviving emotional crises, regulating emotions, and improving interpersonal effectiveness.  Our aims are supported by the following objectives:

• Having clear and focused goals 
• Supporting service users to develop coping strategies  
• Keeping admissions as short as possible 
• Encouraging and supporting family involvement 
• Planning for discharge from the point of admission 

Treatments offered

The service offers a wide range of therapeutic group and one-to-one interventions alongside continuous monitoring of weight, physical and mental health. One-to-one interventions may include:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) 
• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) 
• Motivational Enhancement Therapy 
• Psychoeducation  

Therapeutic group therapies include:

• Healthy eating group 
• Mindfulness 
• Social eating group 
• Over-exercise group 
• Community meetings 

Support in activities of daily living such as shopping, food preparation, leisure activities and vocational opportunities is also provided.

Admission Criteria

• Men and women over the age of 18 years up to the age of 65 years 
• May be detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (amended 2007) 
• Primary diagnosis of an eating disorder 
• May have other diagnoses including mental illness, Personality Disorder (PD) or autism
• May require nasogastric feeding 
• May have a history of self-harm and/or self-neglect 
• May have additional associated complex needs including a history of substance misuse or a history of trauma and/or abuse

For further information or to discuss a potential referral please dial our 24 hr referral line on 0800 218 2398. Alternatively you can email referrals@elysiumhealthcare.co.uk or elys.referrals@nhs.net