Dr. Brendan Doody:

There are fewer beds. Proportionately, the number of children with eating disorders in the remaining beds has increased. Now, more than one third of the young people who are inpatients have eating disorders. Those beds have lower turnover and longer lengths of stay. When the number of beds is reduced, even though all of those beds are occupied, the number of admissions will drop because, by the very nature and mix of cases, the patients will be those with more severe conditions who require longer lengths of stay, so beds are being taken out. All young people are assessed. If a young person is admitted to an adult unit in our catchment area, consultants and members of the team will assess that young person and make sure that if he or she requires transferring, the transfer is prioritised to our own unit or we would seek a transfer to another unit, if there was capacity nationally.