PEOPLE with eating dis-orders in the south and east of Scotland are to benefit from a new £500,000 facility.
The 12-bed South-East Scotland Eating Disorders Unit in Livingston, West Lothian, will cater for people with anorexia, bulimia and other conditions.
The in-patient unit, which will be run by West Lothian Community Health and Care Partnership and is based at St John's hospital, offers residents their own private bedroom with en-suite bathroom, therapeutic kitchen and dining spaces, group work areas, sitting areas and a quiet room, as well as interview and office accommodation.
The facility was originally due to open last summer, but development fell behind schedule. It is Scotland's second specialist eating disorders facility, after the Eden Unit in Aberdeen opened in 2009.
Speaking at the official opening of the South-East Unit yesterday, the Minister for Public Health, Michael Matheson, said: "Having an eating disorder can be a severe and complex condition to address and we must do what we can to ensure those people access the help and support they need."
Nicola Blackie, 22, from Eyemouth in the Borders, began fighting a life-threatening battle with anorexia after securing a place in the RAF at the age of 18. Her weight plummeted from 11 stone to just five stone.
She said: "When I looked in the mirror I just saw a huge, fat person. With the illness, it was like living with another person. Rationally I'd know that it wasn't me talking, but the person inside my head was far stronger than I was and it was bullying me to believe that what he was saying was right."
She left hospital in August 2010 and while she still struggles with the illness, she is eating normally and playing sport – even being crowned champion of her local golf club last year. She has embarked on a new career, training to be a nurse and working part-time in a care home for dementia patients.
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