I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 28, 55 and 68 together.
Persons presenting with eating disorders are generally treated through the psychiatric services of their local health board. Outpatient psychiatric services are provided from a network of hospitals, health centres, day hospitals and day centres. Where inpatient treatment is deemed necessary, it is provided in the local acute psychiatric unit or hospital, with beds allocated on the basis of patient need at any particular time.
A tertiary referral service for eating disorders is available to public patients in St. Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin at which three inpatient beds are designated for this purpose. A similar service is available privately at St. Patrick's Hospital, James's Street, Dublin and St. John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, County Dublin.
The voluntary organisation Bodywhysprovides advice and support for sufferers of eating disorders, their families and carers. My Department has provided funding of €394,000 for Bodywhys since 2001 to develop its activities in this area.
The report referred to by Deputy Hayes is entitled, A Report on Service Provision in the Eastern Region, and was written by Joy Wall for Bodywhys. The report details the nature of eating disorders, the services available to those suffering from the disorder in the eastern region and makes recommendations for the future development of such services.
As Deputies will be aware, an expert group on mental health policy is preparing a national policy framework for the further modernisation of the mental health services. The provision of services for people with eating disorders is among the issues being considered by the group. I understand a copy of the Bodywhys report has been provided for the group which is expected to report in mid-2005.