NHS referrals

Newmarket House is one of the three specialist eating disorder units (SEDUs) commissioned by the NHS East of England Provider Collaborative. The Provider Collaborative covers the following NHS Trusts:  Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT), Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) and East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT). The community eating disorder services from these trusts refer patients requiring more intensive treatment to the Provider Collaborative. These referrals are reviewed by the Collaborative’s Single Point of Access team and triaged for potential allocation to inpatient treatment, Intensive Community Support or Virtual Intensive Treatment. Despite its home-like setting, Newmarket House functions as a hospital and has robust protocols in place in accordance with the Medical Emergencies in Eating Disorders (MEED) guidance for working with patients who are admitted to NH severely underweight or with other physical health complications due to their eating disorder. Unlike the other two SEDUs in the region, Newmarket House does not take detained patients or provide nasogastric feeding.

The Provider Collaborative has formalised the role of SEDUs like Newmarket House as one element of the treatment pathway, helping patients step up and down from more intensive services as necessary in support of their longer-term recovery. Sometimes, patients are referred for brief, symptom-interruption admissions. However, regardless of the admission type, we see our role at Newmarket House being to help all patients make a decisive step in their recovery process, and to help them access the motivation, confidence and skills to continue this work in the community following discharge. Thus, every patient is offered all aspects of the treatment programme. Where patients leave prior to completing all four stages, they are supported in consolidating their treatment progress and stepping down to a level of care that will allow them to continue their recovery at home with the support of their community treatment providers, families and other caregivers.

From October 2025, Newmarket House will be able to offer some beds to NHS referrers from outside the East of England Provider Collaborative’s catchment area.

If you have any questions about NHS admissions to Newmarket House, please contact Andrea Ramsden, Operations Director, or Sarah Elden, Administrator, on 01603 452226.