Cambridge anorexic woman's death was 'crisis waiting to happen'

The death of a woman with anorexia was a "crisis waiting to happen," an inquest heard.

Amanda Bowles, 45, was found at her Cambridge home in September 2017.

Dr Shivani Puvirajasingham, her GP between 2010 and 2016, said she repeatedly raised concerns with Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

The recorded cause of Ms Bowles' death was pneumonia.

A pathology report said her eating disorder was likely to have contributed.

The inquest is the latest to be heard by Sean Horstead, assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire, who is overseeing a cluster of five hearings into patients with anorexia who died between 2012 and 2018 having been treated by local NHS mental health teams.

Ms Bowles had asked her friend to deliver food and confided that doctors were worried she was becoming so ill she might die, the court heard.

In 2014, Dr Puvirajasingham told the mental health team she was worried Ms Bowles "was a crisis waiting to happen when her son went to university".

By 2016, she said she told the eating disorder service she felt unable to continue Ms Bowles' treatment in the community, but was told there was no inpatient bed available and the service would "be in touch" when one became free.

However, she also noted Ms Bowles had struggled to engage with mental health teams.

The court heard Ms Bowles had also been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and agoraphobia.

Ella Parker was the last of her friends or family to see Ms Bowles, when she delivered food to her on 16 August.

She told the court: "Doctors had told her they were worried she had become so unwell she might die. She was worried about going back to hospital, she wanted to get better at home."

Her father, Daniel Bowles, told the court his daughter seemed excited about the future and going abroad with her family.

"She was wanting to build herself up for that trip. That's the way we saw it," he said.

The inquest continues.

If you are affected by any of the issues in this story, you can talk in confidence to eating disorders charity Beat by calling its adult helpline on 0808 801 0677 or youth helpline on 0808 801 0711.