The course of an eating disorder is often prolonged and can lead to enduring disability for many years, with some patients requiring lengthy periods of in-patient care. Unfortunately, there is still little evidence concerning the optimal model of in-patient care for these patients.

Self-admission is a novel treatment tool, whereby patients who have high health care utilization are offered the possibility to self-admit to an inpatient ward for up to seven days, because of deteriorating mental health or any other reason. Purposes behind the model are to increase the availability of in-patient care, to promote autonomy and agency, and to decrease total inpatient care utilization.

To investigate whether self-admission can be beneficial for patients with severe eating disorders.

Two beds out of eleven at a specialist eating disorders inpatient unit were reserved for self-admission of well-known patients. All participants were interviewed about their experiences in the program at 6 months.

Participants described an increased sense of agency and safety in their everyday lives. Suggestions were also made, such as a more active outreach approach in promoting admission, providing a continual staff contact during the brief admission episode, and offering a similar self-admission model for day treatment.

Self-admission is a viable tool in the treatment of severe eating disorders and can increase quality of life by providing a safety net and promoting agency. However, logistical obstacles must be addressed in order to promote a constructive use.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.