Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State on their new roles. I wish them well. We all want them to succeed and we all need them to succeed in the area of health.

I wish to concentrate my contribution on eating disorders. Some Members may have attended when Cared Ireland presented in the audiovisual room. The reason I went in there was I am desperately seeking help for a constituent whose BMI is at 14.8 and she weighs 39.9 kg, as it is. I have been looking for help for her for the past six to eight months. I know she is only one person, but every door is being shut in my face. Obviously, she needs a bed for treatment. We do not have the 23 beds that were promised. It really concerns me that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, says we do not need those beds. We absolutely do need them. In the meantime, however, we have to facilitate people in such bad health to get private help. It will cost €77,200 to have an admission to Lois Bridges centre, where she can be treated. It is not fair that somebody who does not have the money or health insurance is excluded from vital treatment. This is a matter of life and death.

A woman, Paula Crotty, spoke in the presentation today about her own daughter who had died. The way she was treated and the lengths to which she went to try to help her daughter to stay alive would make the hair stand up on your head. She was then told by a Minister's adviser she was lucky to have what she had. The way these families and individuals are being treated is grotesque. It is not right to say they can be treated in the community. As was said in the audiovisual room today, it is eclipsing the issue of the lack of beds to say the community teams are in place. Psychiatrists who do not have an expertise in eating disorders cannot deliver the care needed and that can be delivered in the treatment centres that do exist, like Lois Bridges. Something, then, must be done, and done urgently. Ciara spoke about the mental torment that has led to her physical destruction and may destroy her choice to ever be able to have her own child. We talked about natal care earlier. This is how serious the situation is. We are failing these people. If there is one thing I would ask the Minister to do, it would be to please sort it out so we can have treatment beds to allow us to treat people with eating disorders.

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