Ms Harriet Parsons:

The reason the focus has been on the community eating disorder services is that evidence shows it is better for people to be treated within the community and within their family and lives. When an inpatient admission is needed it is usually because, physically, the person is very unwell with, as the Deputy said, a BMI of 11 or 12. That is why a person with a BMI of 11 or 12 would often go into a general hospital and avail of nasogastric, NG, feeding. When they are at a safer place physically and there is less risk, they would then be discharged. The reason the focus has been on community teams is that the majority of people can be treated within the community and that is also better for them.

When we talk about the three beds, they are for adults. There has been development around dedicated inpatient beds for adolescents. One of the lacks identified was the ability to have NG feeding within a mental health facility where there is an eating disorder team. The Linn Dara team and the Merlin Park team in Galway have the facility for NG feeding within their eating disorder specialist team so there has been improvement on that front for adolescents.

When somebody is admitted to hospital, he or she does not come out of it well. He or she comes out stable enough to begin the process of getting better. When you are talking about recovery from an eating disorder, you are talking about that happening within the person's life. The person needs to be going to school, going to college, working and having social interactions, his or her social life and his or her normal life. The person needs to figure out how he or she can start living without his or her eating disorder. This is why it is so important to have the proper specialist services within the community and for people's families to be supported. I am sure the Deputy has heard families say when they go to an appointment, "You are with them for an hour a week but we are with them 24-7, seven days a week". This is why a big part of our work is supporting families.

In some ways, the pandemic has enabled us to do that. We took our services online. We took the PiLaR programme online so instead of driving around the country, I was able to provide that programme online. It also meant that we developed a family support package that supports families after the programme and onwards as long as they need it. We have a bimonthly family support group, the New Maudsley carer skills workshop and following that, we have a regular Maudsley workshop once a month. Parents are availing of those services who came into the PiLaR programme even before we took it online. We are supporting families the whole way through because people cannot stay in hospital for four or five years. They have to live their lives and so they need that support within their lives. This is why the resources so far have mainly been going into the community eating disorder specialist services.