'It feels like there’s nobody listening': Cork mum's plea for improved eating disorder services 

A Cork woman who lost her daughter to anorexia is among a group who will implore TDs to make improvements to eating disorder policy next week.

CARED Ireland (Caring About Recovery from Eating Disorders) will brief TDs in Leinster House next Wednesday. 

Paula Crotty said members of CARED Ireland, which formed 10 years ago, are travelling to Leinster House as they want “to make the Government aware of how poor the services are”.

“I know things are slightly better than they were when my daughter got sick 12 years ago, but they are still very poor, there’s still counties with no services at all,” Ms Crotty, who is originally from Cork city but now lives in Dublin, told The Echo.

“We’re calling for funding to be ringfenced, especially for more adult services — most of what’s being set up is child and adolescent programmes, but even if people starting treatment are primarily children, the problem is that they all become adults with no services.

“When my daughter got sick 12 years ago, there were three adult eating disorder beds, there’s still just those three.

“They can go to a general psychiatric hospital or medical hospital, but staff there don’t always know how to deal with eating disorders.”

Ms Crotty continued: “People are being discharged without support, parents are told: ‘They’re doing well, their weight is up, keep them eating, this is what you need to get them to eat’, but there’s no follow-up.

“They have 11 hubs and they talk about the number of children admitted, assessed, discharged, but we’re not talking about the numbers struggling and suffering around the country in areas that don’t have a programme, that are dealing with GPs.

“The HSE are making it look like everything is under control, but there are lots of questions to ask — how many of those discharges are just discharged because they’ve turned 18, and where do they go then?”

She explained: “My daughter was referred to hospital in Dublin, they had her doing therapy.

“Her therapist retired, then there was nothing for her, she was just left on her own. My daughter died almost two years ago from anorexia. 

“I’ve been raising these same issues for a long time — it feels like there’s nobody listening, but we’re just going to keep fighting.”

The group would like to be represented on the HSE national clinical programme for eating disorders, claiming that representatives on it currently “are not shouting like we are that we need more services, more money — they’re not talking for the parents, so we have no voice.”

East Cork TD and Social Democrats mental health spokesperson Liam Quaide told The Echo: “I look forward to welcoming CARED to Leinster House. The poor provision of eating disorder services nationally is potentially a life-or-death issue for people requiring treatment.

“It is vital that the recommendations of the HSE’s model of care for eating disorder services are funded and implemented in full by this Government, including the provision of four regional eating disorder teams, 24 in-patient beds nationally for adults, and eight in-patient beds for young people in the National Children’s Hospital.”

A HSE spokesperson told The Echo: “While a small number of people benefit from more intensive treatment through day programmes or in-patient care, the most effective treatment setting is in the community,” and that setting up regional teams is the HSE’s core focus.

They added that the HSE spends over €8m annually on eating disorder services, and that there are more than 80 clinicians, including 10 consultant psychiatrists, treating people with eating disorders under NCPED.

There are 11 teams in place: six adult and five Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services teams, with recruitment under way for a 12th, and funding under Budget 2025 will allow for two additional adult teams.

“In addition, a review of bed capacity across all mental health facilities — including adult eating disorder beds — has taken place and is under consideration by the HSE.”

For more information on CARED Ireland, or to join the group, see caredireland.ie. 

- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.