Four stone charity worker, 43, who documented her struggle with anorexia to 140,000 TikTok followers before her death was ‘100 per cent let down’ by the NHS, her family claims

•  Amy Ellis was trying to raise £200,000 for specialist medical treatment
• For help and advice with eating disorders, contact Beat Eating Disorders or text SHOUT to 85258

A woman who bravely documented her heartbreaking struggle with anorexia to her 140,000 TikTok followers before her tragic death at the age of 43 was ‘100 per cent let down’ by the NHS, her family say.

Amy Ellis was trying to raise £200,000 for specialist medical treatment to help her overcome the eating disorder which had blighted her life since childhood ahead of her untimely death from complications of malnutrition.

The charity worker and artist had endured repeated GP appointments and trips to specialists, including a harrowing and ‘undignified’ stay while sectioned at a mental health unit during which she complained of being left for hours covered in her own faeces.

Tragically Ms Ellis was found dead at her home in Broughton, Flintshire last May, just a day after posting a video to followers saying she couldn’t stand up and felt ‘scared’. She weighed just 4st.

An inquest on Friday heard she was suffering from bilateral pneumonia as a result of malnutrition.

Mother Lynne Ellis said her daughter ‘didn’t receive the care and attention she needed and deserved.’

She had been determined to get better and hoped to raise funds for private treatment at a Priory hospital, she said.

The family didn’t accept a doctor’s diagnosis that Ms Ellis had a personality disorder which needed treating first.

‘She was a kind, caring person,’ her mother said.

‘Her TikTok followers are devastated by her death.’

She told coroner John Gittins: ‘Amy and others with eating disorders need help, help denied my daughter.’

‘She didn’t wish to die of this.’

But Dr Samantha Sharpe, head of the eating disorder service in North Wales, said: ‘She didn’t want any hospital admission. She was terrified of that.

‘By the time Amy was asking for the Priory we didn’t feel that was in her best interests.’

Mr Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, recorded a narrative conclusion that Ms Ellis died due to a condition arising from a long-term eating disorder for which she was never successfully treated.

The coroner said that while he was aware her family felt she was ‘let down and significantly so’, he didn’t feel the need to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report.

‘I recognise and applaud the efforts Amy made, even in the final stages of her illness, to help others,’ he said.

But Mr Gittins said he hoped there would be ‘continued reflection’ about the tragedy.

After the inquest, Miss Ellis’s brother Brad, 42, said :’I feel she was let down 100 per cent. I hope lessons will be learned.

‘Amy was brave, a fighter who did a lot of good and was loved by a lot of people.

‘I am very proud of what she did to raise awareness of this condition.’

Ms Ellis had told followers she traced her negative relationship with food to being bullied for receiving free school meals as a child while classmates’ parents could afford to make them packed lunches.

She said her mental health ‘never recovered’ from her spell being sectioned, during which she lost her hair and nails due to stress.

Today Dr Nick Lyons, executive medical director of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which runs NHS services in North Wales, said: ‘This is a tragic case and the thoughts and sympathies of myself and all colleagues who knew Amy are with her family and friends.

‘We do provide highly specialist interventions and treatment for moderate to severe eating disorders, within our adult eating disorder service.

‘Our multi-disciplinary teams’ prime consideration is always to match patients with the most appropriate care, including referral to specialist providers outside of North Wales where clinically appropriate.

‘We welcome the coroner’s findings and where there are clear recommendations for service improvement we are committed to implementing them.’