Limerick eating disorder sufferer feels like ‘dirty little secret’ over lack of care

ADULTS suffering from eating disorders who are sent to England to receive specialist treatment are being made to feel like a “dirty little secret”, TDs and senators have been told.

Members of Cared Ireland, a voluntary support group advocating for urgent improvements in eating disorder treatment services, have detailed what they say are the consequences of the country’s services and lack of specialised staff.

Ireland has just three public beds nationwide which offer specialist treatment for adults with eating disorders,  despite a report recommending that the country needs 23 adult in-patient beds.

TDs and senators were given a briefing at Leinster House about the mounting frustration at the Government’s failure to implement the recommendations.

The group said the already-fragile system is unable to cope with soaring numbers of cases.

Many sufferers are often advised to go to London to receive specialist treatment, which is not available in Ireland, and are separated from families for months and years.

Figures from the National Clinical Programme for Eating Disorders (NCPED), compiled for Eating Disorder Awareness Week, show a 51% increase in adults accessing assessments in 2024 compared with 2023.

The numbers diagnosed with an eating disorder across all age groups increased 31% year on year in 2024, at 503 compared with 385 in 2023.

Ciara Greene, from Limerick, had an eating disorder for 22 years, from the age of nine.

Ms Greene, 35, is in recovery, but still suffers from the physical and mental side-effects.

The eating disorder has left her kidneys impaired, she had a hip replacement at the age of 30, had her spleen removed, has osteoporosis and has fertility issues.

“I have struggled with an eating disorder for the basis of my life, 24 years, and it has been all-consuming of my life. It’s torn my family apart,” she said.

“It’s robbed me of moments of joyous occasions and relationships and trust, and it took the innocence out of my teenage years and my 20s.

“At a young age I was sent to a psychiatric general ward with other general psychiatric patients, left in a bed with no support.

“I was already stuck in my head. I felt I was in jail.

“I was being punished for an illness. The only way I was treated was them shoving a tube down my throat, got my weight up and sent me home.

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“They’re sending people over to England and breaking families apart. It has really had a huge detrimental impact on my own family.

“I know many, many people who have been in and out of treatment, who have since gone over to London and are stuck over there now.

“It feels like you’re like a dirty little secret in Ireland. Go over to England, they’ll fix you.”

Ms Greene said health professionals do not have the education to treat people with an eating disorder.

She said the Government has opened up hubs but they are not staffed by specialised professionals.

She added: “I had so much shame for years. I felt like a dirty problem.

“It has affected my whole body. It’s affected my heart. My kidneys are impaired. I now have to self-catheterise every day. I’ve osteoporosis. I’ve had a hip replacement at 30.

“I had my spleen removed. I have oesophagus problems. All my teeth have fallen out.

“Should I want to have kids – I had 20 years of having no periods so that’s been taken out of my hands now that I’m well.

“That’s only one of my biggest regrets.”