Recruitment difficulties hit rollout of care model for people with eating disorders 

The HSE responded to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin that it has been impacted by challenges in recruitment and retention, especially for consultant psychiatrists and dieticians. Picture: iStock

The rollout of a new model of care for people with eating disorders is being hit by difficulties in recruitment and retention of staff including psychiatrists and dieticians, according to the HSE.

Under a 2018 memorandum of care, eight adult and eight child and adolescent teams were to be set up across the country by this year. However, just five have been completed, with a further four currently in the process of being established. Over €8m has been allocated for eating disorder posts through Programme for Government funding, according to the HSE.