Ireland's Health Service Executive has confirmed that adults with eating disorders in the Mid West have no dedicated specialist team to turn to. In a written statement to a Regional Health Forum meeting, HSE Mid West's IHA manager Maria Bridgeman said: 'HSE Mid West has not received funding to establish a dedicated adult eating disorder team. Therefore there is currently no specialist adult eating disorder team within the Mid West to which adults can be referred.'
The gap surfaced after Councillor James Ryan asked for a timeline on adult services, citing previous commitments from Minister Mary Butler. Bridgeman said the region did secure funding in 2025 for a children and young people's team — two advanced nurse practitioners, one psychologist and one dietician, with consultant recruitment still underway — but adult services received no allocation at all. All new specialist mental-health developments depend on national clinical programmes and national development funding.
In practice, adults in Limerick and Clare must rely on community mental health teams for assessment, treatment and support, with consultant psychiatrists able to refer only the most serious cases for inpatient treatment. Bridgeman described the dedicated multidisciplinary team as the preferred model, called the community-team arrangement a fallback, and said HSE Mid West continues discussions with national colleagues about future expansion.
Eating-disorder advocates have long argued that adult services fall into a funding gap between child and adolescent services and general mental-health provision. For patients in the Mid West, the HSE's answer means that gap remains open.
