AQW 42847/11-15

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 25/02/2015
Answered On Date: 06/03/2015
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his assessment of the current health provision to treat and support people who are recovering from eating disorders; and what funding has been allocated to programmes and facilities that provide this care, in each of the last three years.

Answer:

Eating Disorder Services are provided through a stepped care approach which ranges from early detection and intervention, to community-based treatment, to specialist inpatient provision.

Community-based Specialist Eating Disorder Services are available across all five HSC Trusts (with Belfast Trust providing services for the South Eastern Trust) for both adults and children and young people.

Inpatient treatment for adults with an eating disorder is facilitated in existing hospitals with in-reach support provided by specialist community-based eating disorder teams. This ensures a continuum of care when patients are discharged.

Inpatient care for children and adolescents with eating disorders is usually provided at Beechcroft, the Regional Child and Adolescent Mental Health Inpatient Unit. If the patient’s condition is primarily physical, clinicians may decide that the best place for treatment is an acute hospital setting.

If a patient requires more intense specialist treatment for anorexia, Trusts can access beds in England, Scotland and Ireland through the Extra Contractual Referral (ECR) process.

A total of £2 million per annum is allocated to specialist Eating Disorder Services, and this has been the case since 2008/09. This figure does not include inpatient care or the cost of treatment for eating disorders provided outside Northern Ireland.