A Member of the Senedd struggled to hold back tears as she described suffering from an eating disorder as a teenager, saying she was "days away" from being admitted to an adult psychiatric ward aged 14. Sarah Murphy, 35, member of the Senedd for Bridgend, said she would "never have come out" had she been admitted to the adult ward.
Ms Murphy recounted her experience as part of a Senedd debate led by the Welsh Conservatives on May 18 calling for improved mental health services for young people. As part of this, she raised the suggestion of establishing a special residential eating disorder unit in Wales.
"I myself had anorexia nervosa when I was 14. It was absolutely terrifying for me and my family, and my friends and my teachers. I was two days away from them admitting me to the adult psychiatric ward at East Glamorgan hospital when I was 14," she said.
"They would have locked me up in an adult psychiatric ward at East Glamorgan hospital. I would never have come out. I would never have come out. The only other option at the time was the residential unit in Bristol, and it was full." At 14 I don't know how I would have gone off to Bristol like that."
She said that while she appreciated the support, there was a need to establish a unit in Wales so people do not have to move away from their home.
"My parents were just so scared. I think to be honest I was so unwell I don't even think I was scared anymore. I didn't know what was going on," she said.
"I did recover, and I'm very rare. You look at the statistics and It's very rare to recover from this. And I did, and I can't even really tell you how I did, even now. That was 20 years ago and we still don't have a unit in Wales."
Speaking on Radio Wales on Thursday morning, she said that she feared she would have died if she had been admitted to an adult hospital at 14.
"At that time, my circulation was very, very poor, my periods had stopped, I was dis-associating, I was very cold all the time. I was very, very physically unwell as well as mentally unwell," she said.
She said her heart went out to people still going through it, describing it as "very, very, very scary". Her GP prescribed Prozac and she later went to see a consultant.
She said: "When I went in, the consultant, this is going to sound awful, it was almost like his eyes lit up, because people can be quite fascinated by it, because it's so rare. He brought in a load of student doctors, I just remember being prodded and poked, whilst lying on a bed, feeling like a real freak.
"They tried to draw blood, I was crying my eyes out, my dad holding my hand and I remember them weighing me, sat in a chair. My weight showed up behind me as if I didn't weigh myself 10 times a day, or I didn't drink 10 pints of water before going in there to disguise my true weight."
Ms Murphy was elected as a Member of Senedd for Bridgend for the first time in May 2021. Her predecessor in the seat was Carwyn Jones, former First Minister. As he announced he would step down, a selection process began and she was selected as Labour's candidate in October 2019.
She ended her speech in the Senedd by saying: "I just want to end by saying to any and all young people out there, you aren't alone. There is nothing wrong with you. There is help available and you can get through this."
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Every health board has received funding to support the improvement of their Eating Disorder services and we continue to prioritise investment for these services. Since 2017 health boards have received an additional £4.1m to support improvements such as early intervention and improved waiting times."
