I’m fighting the biggest battle of my life & I’m fighting with the HSE over funding ...it’s shocking
Paula, 19, blasts health chiefs over anorexia treatment blow
A SERIOUSLY ill teenager battling life-threatening anorexia has blasted the HSE for “failing” eating disorder sufferers.
Paula Walsh, whose BMI is at a dangerously low 13.9, has been refused funding for specialist treatment despite the lack of supports available within the public health system.
The 19-year-old has struggled with the disorder since the age of 12 and insisted treatment available to adults through the HSE is “totally inadequate”.
Her parents David, a plumber, and mother Suzanne – who gave up work to care for Paula – have paid €25,000 for emergency private care in Dublin’s specialist Lois Bridges clinic for eating disorders.
They made the move from Galway eight weeks ago after her condition deteriorated rapidly.
She was being treated in University
Hospital Galway – to the extent that she had to be fed through a nasalgastric tube for five days.
Paula, a second-year anatomy student at NUIG, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I’m fighting the biggest battle of my life with anorexia while also fighting with the HSE for funding.
“They’re basically telling me that they don’t think I am sick enough to deserve funding for treatment. And that’s feeding into my condition.
“If I was to leave Lois Bridges now, I’d be discharged back into the general hospital and that really, really scares me.
“My weight is still extremely low, my BMI is only 13.9 – having risen from 13.5 since arriving here – so it would not be safe to discharge me home.
“If I didn’t have the support I have here I know I would end up back on an NG tube in the general hospital.
“It is not the fault of the staff but a failure of the system to provide the proper training in handling eating disorders.”
Paula said her treatment as a minor was “amazing” but she was “shocked” by the lack of specialist mental health back-up and supports available for adults via the HSE. She added: “Even if my speaking out does not result in funding for my treatment, if someone else gets help because of it then it will have been worth it.”
A statement from the HSE said it does fund patients in private facilities, adding that decisions are made based on “clinical need”.
It added that three beds in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin are
“ring-fenced” for people with eating disorders.
Paula’s mum Suzanne told how she cannot understand why the HSE will not fund her daughter’s treatment.
She said: “Right from the word go our consultant applied for Paula to be treated in a private facility.
“We got a letter from the HSE with just three lines which essentially said, ‘You are not in our budget’. There was
no offer of help or a solution. Paula was fed through a tube for five days in Galway and we took it in turns to stay with her 24 hours a day because of the high risk of cardiac arrest.
“It’s unbelievably distressing for the family – there are days when you cope and others when you fall apart.
“We’re in a desperate position in that the HSE will not provide the support needed to help Paula who is very, very ill.
“We’re going public not just for Paula’s sake, but to say, ‘Enough is enough’. The worst feeling is when you look around psychiatric wards and see people who have no family support and you wonder what happens to them.
“Even if we do get funding from the HSE to ensure Paula gets the expert treatment she needs at Lois Bridges, what about the others?”
■ Paula’s sister has started a treatment funding appeal page at www. gofundme. com/f/vwgns-paulaneeds-your-help which has so far raised €17,000.
They’re telling me I’m not sick enough for care and that is feeding my condition
PAULA WALSH DUBLIN
YESTERDAY