Former Launceston resident Amy Singline relocated to the Gold Coast in 2015 in order to seek help for her eating disorder after being admitted and discharged from the Launceston General Hospital.

“I was only going to relocate for a few months until I felt happy and healthy enough to come home but now I have made a life up on the Gold Coast and I feel so much happier up here,” she said.

“I never sought help for my eating disorder until I was discharged from the Launceston General Hospital in December 2014. After nearly dying due to organ failure and my heart rate dropping to 28 it was the wake-up call I needed to admit to having an eating disorder.

“I one hundred per cent agree that there is a lack of services in Tasmania.”

The concerns follow those raised by Hobart general practitioners who expressed worry some adults were not getting the services they need while living with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

It’s believed about four per cent of people have an eating disorder, or 20,000 people in Tasmania. 

Eating Disorders Association Tasmania (EDAT) facilitator Keri Campbell said from her experience there was definitely a lack of services in Tasmania but she was not critical of the services that were there.

“It comes down to choice, people want to have choice,” she said.

“I have carers who have gone through the public system and come out now happy, for a variety of reasons...it’s not to say the public system is bad because it isn’t.”

People living with eating disorders and their carers often contact EDAT and express the feeling that they had nowhere else to go, Ms Campbell said.

“We have had carers come and tell us that they are going to sell their house and go interstate or overseas.”

Ms Campbell said establishing a public and private system for dealing with eating disorder cases for both adults and children would assist in giving carers and patients more choice in disease management.

She said more education needed to be done in the emergency departments of Tasmania’s hospitals to deal with the nuanced issue of eating disorders.

However she said she was pleased that some changes were being made in the area within the state system.

Ms Singline suffered from her eating disorder for three to four years before trying to seek help at the LGH and said her recovery had been swifter since relocating to the Gold Coast.

"Since moving my recovery has been going very smoothly, I have put on weight and my hair has all grown back,” she said.

“I have the strength to exercise at the gym again and have gained a full time career in child care. I was about 30kg when I left the hospital and now I am around 50kg.”

If you or someone you know needs help contact these support services: The Butterfly Foundation support line: 1800 33 4673 or Lifeline: 13 11 14.