Cork eating disorder centre has waiting list for first time in its history
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Increased demand for eating disorder support has led to a waiting list for services at a Cork centre for the first time in its history.
The Eating Disorder Centre Cork (EDCC), established in January 2008, is a not-for-profit counselling and support centre based at Penrose Quay that provides services for people and their families. Its services are available without referral from a GP and are provided on a sliding scale, subsidised by funding from the HSE.
Erin O’Reilly, clinical manager of the centre, revealed that the EDCC has been “inundated” over the past year or so. Ms O’Reilly also revealed that the EDCC currently has around 89 people on a waiting list for its services, the first time the centre has had a waiting list in its 14-year history.
“We have seen a huge increase in demand, we’re inundated. It has just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger," she said.
According to the HSE’s National Clinical Programme for Eating Disorders, launched in January 2018, an estimated 188,895 people in Ireland will experience an eating disorder at some point in their lives. It is estimated that approximately 1,757 new cases occur in Ireland each year in the 10 to 49 age group.
“Recently, the increase has been in young people, between the ages of 14 and 18 mostly,” Ms O’Reilly added.
“We find that a lot of the young people coming in are presenting with restrictive eating disorders like anorexia. This time last year, we were seeing people with binge-eating issues and most were over the age of 18. However, over the past 12 months, we’ve really seen an increase in younger people under 18 or under 16 even coming to us,” she said.
The pandemic, social isolation and social media are just some of the factors that have impacted people with eating disorders over the past 12 months or so, Ms O’Reilly explained.
She said that the emphasis on training at home during the pandemic had a detrimental impact on some people with eating disorders, particularly younger people who might require support and information from a trainer or teacher.
As things stand, the EDCC is currently at its maximum caseload capacity with around 220 people, and eight therapists. Ms O’Reilly revealed that the centre hopes to hire more therapists in the near future, but that recruitment difficulties and financial constraints are hampering efforts.
The EDCC manager highlighted the need for increased funding and resources for eating disorder services across Cork and Ireland to ensure that people can be catered for.
“We do get some funding from the HSE, and we are very grateful for it, but more is needed to deal with the demand we’re currently experiencing,” said Ms O’Reilly.
Ms O’Reilly encouraged anyone in need of support for eating disorder concerns to contact the centre. The EDCC is available to contact on 021 453 9900 and by email at info@edcc.ie. The Cork service is also seeking volunteers to assist the EDCC with fundraising efforts and donations.