No source of funding has been sourced this year for a planned new eating disorder hub in the north west.
However, the Mental Health Service has received approval to recruit an additional three
Senior Dieticians to support children and adults with Eating Disorders in the region.
The confirmation came at yesterday’s meeting of the Regional Health Forum, following a query from Councillor Gerry Crawford.
The Lifford-based Fianna Fail representative raised the queries after it emerged that eating disorder hubs were being set up in other regions around the country.
“What level of service for such (hub) is in place or planned for CHO1 (Donegal and the north west),” he asked.
Mr John Hayes, HSE’s Chief Officer for the region, told Cllr Crawford there is a National Clinical Programme in Eating Disorders which is aimed at providing services nationally to children, adolescents and adults.
“Sligo has been designated as a mini-hub for adults on this model of care and no specific funding from the National Programme in 2021 has been identified,” Mr Hayes said.
“Through the 2021 HSE service plan, CHO1 Mental Health Service has received approval to recruit an additional three Senior Dieticians to support children and adults with Eating Disorders. Each CHO1 MHS catchment area – Cavan Monaghan, Donegal and Sligo Leitrim – will be allocated one post. This will broaden the range of expertise available
to treat the specific needs of this population.”
Currently, Cavan Monaghan and Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Service, each have one Eating Disorder Therapist, providing specialist therapeutic intervention to people with eating disorders.
“The Eating Disorder Team in SLMHS, the CAMHS team and the Mental Health Liaison Team in Sligo Leitrim work closely with the medical and paediatric teams in Sligo University Hospital (SUH) to provide multidisciplinary care and best practice for those – adults and children – admitted to SUH with severe Anorexia Nervosa using the MARSIPAN guidelines. In addition children requiring community care receive physical monitoring, mental state review, weight
restoration and therapeutic intervention; nursing staff in CAMHS have trained in CBTE in recent years, and aim to provide a clear evidence based care pathway of care to young people under 18 with a primary eating disorder,” concluded Mr Hayes.
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