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THERE IS STILL no plan in place to provide funding for eating disorder treatment beds for adults, seven years after the launch of a government plan to improve services.
Ireland currently has just three public beds in the entire country which offer specialist treatment for adults with eating disorders.
A report estimated that Ireland needs 23 more adult in-patient beds for people with eating disorders.
However, there has been a consistent improvement in the number of community treatment centres, with work underway at 14 of 16 so-called ‘hubs’.
The HSE has confirmed there has been steady increase in the number of treatment hubs, with funding for two more of the facilities provided in Budget 2025.
It also revealed, however, that there has still been no funding provided for new in-patient beds for adults.
More than 20 new beds were due to be opened between 2018 and 2023.
“The model of care has estimated the need for an additional 23 adult inpatient beds for adults with eating disorders,” the HSE said in response to a recent parliamentary question from Holly Cairns, the Social Democrats leader.
“This is a significant capital programme that will need phased funding yearly for the coming years.”
The response gave no further information on when funding for the new beds might be provided.
Asked by The Journal when funding will be allocated for the adult beds, the HSE said: “Adults who have an eating disorder diagnosis and require in-patient care can be referred to any of the HSE’s acute inpatient mental health approved centres around the country.”
“One adult Eating Disorder Team also provides care to its catchment area with three specialist eating disorder beds in St Vincent’s University Hospital (in Dublin 4). A review of bed capacity across all mental health facilities – including adult eating disorder beds – has taken place and is under consideration by the HSE.”
The HSE did not say when the results of the review would be published or when a decision would be made.
People impacted by eating disorders who live outside of the catchment area for the three beds in St Vincent’s are normally referred to a general psychiatric unit, where they often do not receive specialised care.
However, Mary Butler, the minister of state for mental health, has previously indicated that she did not see the need for significantly increasing the number of adult eating disorder in-patient beds.
“I don’t think we need more because 90% of all supports [are] being provided for people with an eating disorder are in the community,” she told RTÉ’s Prime Time last year.
She also said that severe cases can be dealt with under the Treatment Abroad Scheme (TAS), which involves paying for seriously ill patients to receive treatment overseas.
However, this approach has been criticised by the likes of Cairns, who pointed out that spending on eating disorder treatment under the TAS has risen from €312,000 in 2018 to €4.5 million in 2023, as more people seek treatment.
Psychiatrists have also said that relying on the TAS often means patients can be severely unwell by the time they finally do receive treatment.
There has been a rise in the number of people seeking treatment for eating disorders in recent years.
For the first time, eating disorders were the main reason for children being admitted to psychiatric hospitals and units in 2023.
The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland recently said the improved outpatient services, with work underway or complete on opening 14 of 16 planned treatment hubs, has had a positive impact.
However, the organisation said that improving inpatient care has been neglected, highlighting the lack of beds available for adult patients
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It is literally mind boggling that we have high vaccine take up with one of the longest and most severe lockdown yet such high case numbers and no one in the Press or Opposition or even in Govt is demanding to know why? The bad news never stops!
@Neil Neart: lockdown ended months ago.
@Neil Neart: not only are we not currently in lockdown, we never had a severe lockdown, eg no curfews, no home checks for isolation compliance. Just compare out cases and hospitalisations per capita with Northern Ireland, where they have the worst death rate in the developed world
@Neil Neart: what are you on about, restaurants and bars opened months ago, there was 50k in Croke park last week , also the vaccine only stops you getting sick with covid, it’s doesn’t stop you getting it so i don’t know why you think the numbers are mind boggling?
@Stephen Kearon: Do you not consider Level 5 for around 7 months excluding christmas a severe lockdown? No curfews or home checks doesnt mean it wasnt severe.
@Neil Neart: hard luck! Massive fail there.
Tis a mighty drying day out there.
@Gerry from the Block: not much wind out though. Plenty of hot air in the comments below all the same.
Flatten the curve. Next 2 weeks are critical. #ItsInOurHands
@Victoria Victoria: same old nonsense for the past 2 years
@Larsen Cib: last 2 years have been critical
@Larsen Cib: nonsense? Well done you. Imagine how bad it would have been the last 17 months if we followed your advice.
@Alan Peters: Madness is trying to understand how 326 covid patients can overwhelm the entire health service of Ireland. Fact is, this only highlights further, the complete shambles of system that existed long before this virus sprung up.
Vaccinated nurses dropping like flies? Surely not? That must mean that Holohan does not understand the literal definition of “Fully Protected” as he likes to say so often?
Next they’ll ban Agency Nurses from working unless they’re vaccinated! Oh wait….
@Crypto S. Crazii: where did you see that vaccinated nurse are dropping like flies?
@Crypto S. Crazii: 326 covid patients in addition to all of the other people who need hospital treatment, its not like the hospitals are just treating people with covid. My friend works in ICU and they have had to open a second unit so that they can separate the non covid patient from the covid patients bit still have the same amount of staff because it’s a specialised area so can’t just have any nurse come and work there. That means a part of the hospital usually used for something else has to be taken away. After Christmas it was the coronary care unit that had to be turned into another ICU.
@Crypto S. Crazii: Do you know the amount of resources a covid sufferer takes up in a hospital.
How many ICU beds are available, of course not.
The HSE is a mess and we have known that since well before Covid-19.
Considering the mess it is, the country has done well to have the numbers we do have.
Vaccination does not mean you cant catch the virus, it means you should not have the severity that catching it unvaccinated has.
@Paul Furey: The Journal removed loads of comments and that has the the effect of making my comment look bonkers without the context of the the other messages I was replying to.. Happens to me more often than I’m comfortable with tbh..
@Gary Kearney: we are far from where we were in jan/feb at the peak of that wave. 221 in icu and 2,020 hospitalisations then…….. The national adult critical care capacity baseline is being increased from 280 to 321 by year end this year.
That’s good news. I see there were 247 people in Irish hospitals yesterday being treated on trolleys – or chairs – in corridors.
Still, it could be worse.
People in hospitals in New Orleans are not being evacuated because all hospitals in neighbouring states are overwhelmed by Covid cases and can’t take any more patients.
Early in the day they must be off to croker
Allow the communions and confirmations.
@Victoria Victoria: Not a hope, major indoor pissup’s for the dressed up hugging yummy mummy’s.
Ahhh sure, be grand lads.
@Craig Ferguson: that’s easy for you to say unless you’re an anti vaxcer.Try saying that to the front line staff in the hospitals
Should we not have a lot more cases if transmission is so high..keeps staying around the same for few weeks now..or do we as most vaccinated people don’t get tested because of hse illogical guidelines of no need for test if vaccinated
@SquintEastwood: it’s per day, not cumulative
@Elaine Phelan: obviously its per day…but why is it always around the same amount per day if it’s so much more contagious..i read that delta is multiple times more contagious and would double every few days..where is the doubling…if everyone including vaccinated people were being tested if they were close contacts the true numbers might show….same on article on here about back to school,if someone tests possitive when back to school or college for covid only unvaccinated close contacts need to be tested and then isolate for 10 days after test,but if the kids are vaccinated they just carry on as normal with no test or isolation needed..how is that going to stop people getting infected by vaccinated pupils if they don’t know if they are infected
They must be all knocking off early to watch the match.
@Noel Martin: yea u got to love the half days at the weekends or the early scaremongering attempt before people start to enjoy their weekends and the midweek announcements timed for 6pm ish when people are just home from work, always method to it, 92% of adults vaccinated, probably way above any early expectations and still the warnings, give it a rest, don’t think anyone is listening anymore, people in my circle don’t even want to hear about it anymore
@Hugo Bugo: do *you* work weekends, Shugs?
@Hugo Bugo: don’t be scared. There’s only the few of you so you all need to get together for a group hug.
@Paul Furey: yawn, little snipy man, let’s look back on both our comments over the last 15 months and see who was scared, embarrassing some of ye, snowflakes, l
That’s not two grand.
It’s close enough. Was hoping it would drop down a bit.
If you’ve nothing good to say, say nothing. Lip zipped!!!
How much Covid was importated from the 4th green field.today?
What’s all this talk about severe lockdowns? Don’t remember any such thing,I don’t remember a curfew,I don’t remember not being able to leave my house, but I do remember that the so called restrictions we did have were routinely ignored, maybe if they hadn’t we might have been in a better place sooner.
have your say