John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I am also a community pharmacist and I am very well aware of the huge difficulties in the GP sector. Solving and improving primary care will be key to the future of health care provision. I imagine it will be a huge part of our report. As it stands, GP care is the one area that deals with people's sickness as opposed to their ability to pay. Everyone going to a GP practice gets examined and treated regardless of whether people have a medical card or are private patients. When they go in the door they get looked after. I imagine the more facilities and services we have, the quicker this will happen.

Is the percentage of referrals to hospital greater in deprived areas than in more affluent areas? I suspect it might be, which means there is a very strong case to be made for resourcing GP practices properly, which would save on very expensive and sometimes unnecessary hospital stays. I am interested to hear the comments of the witnesses on this. To what level is the issue one related to socioeconomic background rather than a medical problem? If the witnesses had a fully serviced ideal practice set-up, would they still be a good bit ahead of the curve compared with more affluent areas? How difficult is it for the witnesses to recruit? I live in a rural area and we had a big problem several years ago recruiting for what I consider to be a very attractive GP practice. If it is that difficult in rural areas, is it much more difficult for the witnesses? How might we get over this?

I would like to hear the opinion of the witnesses on the following matter. I have received many inquiries in my constituency offices about the human papillomavirus, HPV, vaccine and problems associated with it. As the issue has been raised by the witnesses, is it something they have heard in their practices from parents?