Debate contribution: Regional Eating Disorder Service

Debate contribution by Mr Danny Donnelly on 3 March 2026.

MLA

Mr Danny Donnelly

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

3 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Regional Eating Disorder Service

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5434985

Read the official Assembly record

Text

First, I thank Mr Martin for bringing this important issue for debate here. Last week, during Eating Disorders Awareness Week, I spoke about the issues that we face in Northern Ireland and the campaign led by the eating disorder charity Beat. It focused on the importance of community, which is very relevant to how the issue is treated. I have spoken to a local eating disorder team and heard about their workforce and funding pressures, which result in very long waiting lists for people suffering from those conditions. It is a life-saving service, and it needs to be strengthened and enhanced. As we heard, as many as 37,500 people in Northern Ireland could have an eating disorder, and the proportion of eating disorder admissions to the general adolescent inpatient unit has tripled since 2019, I believe; yet there is not one eating disorder youth service team per trust. Those figures, while shocking, do not paint the full picture. How could they, when regional adult eating disorder services are commissioned to treat only anorexia, bulimia and atypical presentations of these conditions? How can we truly understand the scale of the problem when the service is designed around only part of it? The data collected does not begin to capture the full reality. If we cannot properly analyse the need, how can we fix it? Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses with high mortality rates, and they affect people of every age, gender and background. I recently read an article detailing the experience of a lady named Claire who suffered with disordered eating. Hers was an eye-opening account of the real-life consequences that that can have. She spoke about how, as long as she was getting thinner, she could cope with the fact that her world was closing in around her. She described her condition as a "lonely and ritualistic existence". Her morning weigh-in was "sacred". Friends fell away. School became a struggle. When the vomiting stopped working as a weight-loss method, she began to starve herself. At 17, she was living on around 60 calories a day, consumed by thoughts of food and fear. On the surface, stories such as Claire's can appear to confirm the assumption that eating disorders are about weight and appearance. When you look more deeply, however, you see a need for control, a longing for acceptance and a difficulty in processing complex emotions. You can see an illness that runs far deeper than a number on a scale. Another example is that of Daniel Collins, the champion rower from Derry, who has spoken publicly about his experience of disordered eating and described years of cycling between restriction and bingeing, driven by body dysmorphia and a deeply held belief that he needed to be as lean as possible in order to succeed. As a young man, he assumed that eating disorders were a women's issue. That misconception and the stigma attached to it delayed his seeking help when early intervention could have made a significant difference. It was only after engaging with the Western Health and Social Care Trust's specialist eating disorder service that he began to understand the patterns that underpinned his behaviour and access structured, evidence-based support. His experience illustrates two important points: first, that eating disorders can affect anyone, including male athletes, who can appear from the outside to embody physical strength and resilience; and, secondly, that stigma and misunderstanding remain real barriers to timely intervention. In Daniel's words:

"I train hard, but now I fuel myself properly. I eat well and am happy with how I look."

His renewed relationship with food and training has enabled him to compete at a national and international level. That outcome is not incidental. When specialist services are available and accessible, they do not simply prevent deterioration but enable individuals to regain stability and fulfil their potential. Conversely, when access is limited or delayed, we risk having not only poor health outcomes but a loss of talent, opportunity and well-being. Claire and Daniel were able to seek help in Northern Ireland, but what about someone with binge eating disorder? Binge eating disorder is one of the most common eating disorders across the UK, yet it does not fall within the remit of specialist eating disorder services in Northern Ireland. Individuals are instead referred to general mental health services, and the Department of Health has confirmed that it does not collate data on the prevalence of binge eating disorder here, nor is there a current review of its treatment pathway. That means that we are planning services without a complete understanding of need or a clear strategic approach to one of its most prevalent presentations. We know that inpatient treatment should be a last resort but should be available when needed; that the treatment model should be family-based, in the community, as per NICE guidelines; and that the funding has to go to community teams provision in order to prevent inpatient admission. As we have heard, recovery is possible. Early identification, timely referral and access to appropriately commissioned specialist care can change trajectories. Such measures save lives, reduce long-term harm and restore opportunity.

855 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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