An initial review of data from the Focused Admission pilot found that a six-to-eight-week focused admission appears beneficial for patients with long-standing eating disorders, patients with a first episode eating disorder and people who have Type 1 Diabetes with an eating disorder.
Seventeen patients were referred for a focused admission for the pilot, which took place at Priory Hospital Hayes Grove and Priory Hospital Roehampton between September 2024 and November 2025.
The pilot found that intensive, goal-focused, multi-disciplinary inpatient care provides an opportunity for symptom interruption, physical stabilisation, and improved quality of life. It also allows patients to continue safely with community treatment afterwards.
Inpatient stays offer access to peer group therapies and structured exposure work that are harder to deliver effectively in the community.
Effectiveness
The model showed clear benefits for patients engaged with the FREED (First Episode Rapid Early Intervention for Eating Disorders) service whose weight restoration had plateaued in the community. A short, focused admission enabled renewed weight gain and a successful return to intensive psychological treatment in the community (outpatient).
This supports a potential extension of the pilot to Middlewood, an eating disorder unit for adults in West Sussex.
Challenges and limitations
The rapid turnaround can mean psychological progress lags behind physical recovery. In addition, focused admissions were found to not be effective for:
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Autistic patients
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Patients with complex co-existing mental/health conditions or significant social difficulties
Even though prolonged admissions are known to be unhelpful for autistic individuals, a six-to-eight-week stay was often too short for them to settle on the ward and prepare for discharge.
However, in some cases where discharge exceeded eight weeks, the initial ‘focused’ approach still created momentum and resulted in a shorter total admission than would otherwise have occurred.
Critical success factors
The pilot found that for the admission to be successful, goals must be co-produced with the patient. A clear formulation from the referring community team is essential, along with transparency about the purpose of admission - using a focused admission primarily to ‘persuade’ a reluctant patient into hospital does not work.
Finally, careful patient selection is the most important determinant of positive outcome.
Conclusion
Focused admissions are effective for specific patient groups and are likely to become an increasingly valuable option as intensive community pathways in Kent and Sussex become established. This should help to free up resources for further investment in community services.
Next Steps
Deeper quantitative and qualitative data analysis will be carried out along with collection of detailed patient and carer narratives to inform future development of the model.
