New $7.2m clinic to treat eating disorders at Repat Hospital site
The Repat Hospital site will house t new $7.2 million treatment centre to treat anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.
SA News
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A new $7.2 million treatment centre will be built at the Repat Hospital site to help people with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.
The purpose-built centre will offer live-in treatment and day support for patients aged 16 and older.
It will be managed by SA Health and the Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation and will attract Flinders University academics to a dedicated research space.
It is not yet known when the centre will open, how many beds it will offer or how many patients will be able to access outpatient services.
The Federal Government has committed $5 million to the project, while $2.1 million has been raised by Breakthrough, including a $500,000 donation by the Fay Fuller Foundation.
Federal Liberal MP for Boothby Nicolle Flint said the centre would bring together clinicians and researchers “to work side-by-side under one roof” to deliver evidence-based treatment and therapy.
Ms Flint said children as young as seven were seeking help from eating disorder services. The current Statewide Eating Disorder Service, based at the Flinders Medical Centre, and an outpatient centre at Brighton, are funded to treat people aged 15 and older.
Growing demand prompted clinicians to develop a children’s service at the FMC in early 2013, but it relies on the hospital’s existing budget.
Ahead of the state election, now-Health Minister Stephen Wade promised an extra $1 million a year to fund children’s eating disorder treatment. That money remains on the table but will not be spent on the new Repat site.
The FMC eating disorder service will continue but it is likely the Brighton building, which Mr Wade said was “undersized and outdated”, will close after the new centre at the Repat opens.
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