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harry barrett,
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mayo health
Another Health Fiasco..
While canvassing, the other night, I was asked at one door in Castlebar to find out about the services for sufferers of eating disorders in the county. I was shocked at the results. No specialised beds. No specialised treatment. No public or private beds and worst of all, there is no presence of the support group Bodywhys in the county. The only real option for a child or adult with this serious complaint is to travel to Dublin and buy a private bed in either St. Patrick’s Hospital or St. John of Gods, both in Dublin.
The health and recovery of a person in Mayo, with an eating disorder is solely a matter of whether they can afford to pay the astronomical cost of a private bed in a Dublin hospital.
To make matters worse, I read that there are only 3 public beds in the country for adults with eating disorders. I find it astounding that the Health Service Executive has not contracted beds in our regional hospitals to deal with this growing issue. This is a prime example of the way the public patients is treated as a second class citizen. If you have the money to pay you get treated: if not, you suffer on a waiting list which currently stands at an 18 month wait time.
“This is unacceptable and wrong. Eating disorders are on the increase, they can cause long term damage if not treated quickly and they can be fatal. Sufferers need very specialised help to overcome the disorder and as of March, 2007, in Co. Mayo, there is no help from our Health service for the public patient. Indeed, the private patient must travel to Dublin to access the luxury of immediate care in a private bed.
Martin Rogan, assistant national director with the HSE admitted the current level of service provision “struggles” to provide an adequate response. He also accepted there was a lack of inpatient beds for children and adolescents with mental health problems, but said there were plans for 80 more beds at four centres around the state.
Mental health was the Cinderella of the Irish Health Service and that it would take a new government to take on the challenge of investing in bed capacity to deal with such serious conditions so that sufferers could be gaurenteed a bed regardless of their financial status.
While canvassing, the other night, I was asked at one door in Castlebar to find out about the services for sufferers of eating disorders in the county. I was shocked at the results. No specialised beds. No specialised treatment. No public or private beds and worst of all, there is no presence of the support group Bodywhys in the county. The only real option for a child or adult with this serious complaint is to travel to Dublin and buy a private bed in either St. Patrick’s Hospital or St. John of Gods, both in Dublin.
The health and recovery of a person in Mayo, with an eating disorder is solely a matter of whether they can afford to pay the astronomical cost of a private bed in a Dublin hospital.
To make matters worse, I read that there are only 3 public beds in the country for adults with eating disorders. I find it astounding that the Health Service Executive has not contracted beds in our regional hospitals to deal with this growing issue. This is a prime example of the way the public patients is treated as a second class citizen. If you have the money to pay you get treated: if not, you suffer on a waiting list which currently stands at an 18 month wait time.
“This is unacceptable and wrong. Eating disorders are on the increase, they can cause long term damage if not treated quickly and they can be fatal. Sufferers need very specialised help to overcome the disorder and as of March, 2007, in Co. Mayo, there is no help from our Health service for the public patient. Indeed, the private patient must travel to Dublin to access the luxury of immediate care in a private bed.
Martin Rogan, assistant national director with the HSE admitted the current level of service provision “struggles” to provide an adequate response. He also accepted there was a lack of inpatient beds for children and adolescents with mental health problems, but said there were plans for 80 more beds at four centres around the state.
Mental health was the Cinderella of the Irish Health Service and that it would take a new government to take on the challenge of investing in bed capacity to deal with such serious conditions so that sufferers could be gaurenteed a bed regardless of their financial status.
1 comment:
Dear Mr. Barrett,
Many thanks for highlighting the dire lack of services for people with eating disorders in Co. Mayo. It possibly won't surprise you to hear that many other parts of the country experience similar lack of resources when it comes to treating these very serious conditions.
I would like to point out that although Bodywhys- The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland does not, unfortunately, currently have a support group in Mayo, we do have one in Galway city. Apart from our support groups we also offer a range of services to try and support as many people as we can. We run an online support group called BodywhysConnect specifically for people who cannot access our regional groups and for those who prefer not to attend a face to face group but who would like to talk to other people going through a similar experience. People can register for this on our website at www.bodywhys.ie.
We also have a Helpline, Lo-Call 1890 200 444, an email support service at alex@bodywhys.ie and provide information on other services available. Details of all our services can be found on the website.
We would obviously also encourage voters to make this issue heard in their constituency. We need the Government's mental health strategy (A Vision for Change)- particularly the parts related to eating disorders- to be implemented as soon as possible, with the adequate funding and political will to make that happen.
If you would like any further information on this issue, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards
Catherine Joyce
Communications and Advocacy Officer
Bodywhys-The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland
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