Dr. Yolande Ferguson:

A number of issues have been addressed by my colleagues already so I will not repeat them. A couple of specific issues arise. Deputy Kelleher asked about the obstetrician role and to clarify that - the Medical Council highlighted this on Friday and to highlight it again - under the heads as currently written, the obstetrician would have an equal right to assess suicide risk as the two psychiatrists. Obstetricians are clearly not trained to assess suicide risk. Like all doctors, they can make a stab at it, so to speak, but they are not expert. That is what we are; as psychiatrists, we are expert. Obviously, it is important that they have a role, and our role would be to consult with them. We do this all the time for many different things. If I have a patient with a cardiac issue, I consult with a cardiologist in the same way as, on this topic, one would consult with the obstetrician, and obviously the obstetrician has an enhanced role if they are the person proceeding with the procedure.

Deputy Ó Caoláin asked me about the role of the general practitioner. All of us have highlighted that because it works very well with the Mental Health Act. The general practitioner is the person who knows the patient, often very well. They are the people who know the family circumstances. They know the social circumstances. They have a real sense of who the person is. As Professor O'Keane said, under the Mental Health Act the GP is the person who does the recommendation and then the psychiatrist does the certification. That works very well and it could be replicated here.

In regard to amalgamating heads, I do not think psychiatry should be differentiated. There is a long and sad history of psychiatry being seen as somehow outside medicine. Sometimes I hear people who are confused as to whether we are psychologists or psychiatrists. There is some confusion out there about what we do. We are all medically trained doctors. We have specialised in this area. We are as able to make decisions as anybody else. We have the same evidence to back up our practice. In my opinion, the heads should be amalgamated.

Deputy Seamus Healy asked about the Mental Health Act panels and whether I could see a mirroring. It works very well. The Mental Health Commission advertises and interviews for the mental health panels so there is a good screening process to ensure quality and I think that would work well.