Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The new CAMHS eating disorder team will transform the experiences of adolescents with eating disorders in the mid-west, giving them earlier and enhanced supports and reducing the need for hospital admissions. As I said, there are currently 20 dedicated eating disorder beds across the four CAMHS inpatient units. The Deputy is right to say there are only three adult beds in St. Vincent's hospital. We have done a full bed capacity review of all mental health beds across the whole country.

I have asked the HSE to conduct a full review of the national clinical programme. When it was established in 2018, at the time there was an indication that there may be 60 people who might need access to eating disorder extensive supports. I am meeting the lead on eating disorders this week. Last year, the figures show there were 894 referrals. We have seen the issue regarding eating disorders grow exponentially over the past four to five years, especially among young girls aged 15 and 16 with anorexia nervosa. When the model was put in place in 2018, it was envisaged that the best care for young people like that is in the community. A decision was taken at the time to try and put supports across every single community. When I became a Minister of State in 2020, we had one eating disorder team in place. We will have 14 by the end of this year. I have built on it year on year, securing the funding and getting the multidisciplinary teams in place. We will do the next two teams next year, and that is the 16 under the model of care. Notwithstanding that, our focus has to turn to the beds. I would like to see a geographical spread of the beds, not just in the large cities. I met with my HSE officials last week to discuss it.

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