Ms Harriet Parsons:

They would present themselves to the accident and emergency department and be admitted to a general hospital.

That is why it is so important that within the general hospitals there is education and training. For example, the training I have been doing in partnership, but also the medical emergency guidelines, which are known as the MaRSiPAN guidelines, although that name will be changing on Thursday. They are for the management of really sick patients with anorexia. When somebody who is really sick goes into a general hospital, they are the guidelines that need to be followed in terms of ensuring a person gets the proper treatment and care. There are junior MaRSiPAN guidelines for the children's hospital. For example, in Crumlin, the nurses in accident and emergency would have a copy of the junior MaRSiPAN guidelines. If they have a new nurse, they will take the time to go through them to make sure they know what they are. They are very important. Members will have seen during Eating Disorder Awareness Week that the HSE held a full-day webinar on the guidelines, involving a gastroenterologist from Beaumont and psychiatrists from hospitals all around the country to talk about how they implement the MaRSiPAN guidelines within the hospital setting.