Services to treat people with eating disorders are grossly inadequate, according to a new report which highlights the fact that there are only three public inpatient beds in the State to treat those affected.
And the three public beds available at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, are only for patients over 17, leaving a huge gap in services for children.
The findings are contained in a report from Bodywhys - The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland. It notes a large gap between the provision of services for public and private patients.
Entitled Eating Disorders: A Report on Service Provision in the Eastern Region, the report sought the views of healthcare professions on the quality of services available. Half of them rated services for people with eating disorders as poor.
No accurate figures are available on the numbers suffering from eating disorders. However it is estimated about one in every 100 women is affected. A growing number of men and children are also presenting for treatment and the report states that often there are long waiting-lists. The healthcare professionals surveyed said they received inadequate training to treat those affected.
Ms Jennie O'Reilly, head of Bodywhys, said eating disorders were very serious and people often forgot they had a higher mortality rate through suicide and organ failure than any other psychiatric illness.
The report calls for the lack of specialist services to be addressed. It also wants a comprehensive review of the prevalence of eating disorders in the Republic.