Dr. Yvonne Begley:

A Senator who I believe has left the room asked why the suicide rate is going up in 15 to 19 year olds. To echo what Professor McNicholas said, what we are dealing with is mental illness. When I became a doctor I wanted to answer the questions of why people get ill, why people get cancer, why one person might catch a cold and another does not. The fact is that illness exists. I am a doctor and I treat people who are ill, and some of the people who complete suicide are ill and need to see a doctor or access a medical service. If I asked a consultant surgeon to look after children with appendicitis and I would not give them an anaesthetist, an operating theatre or any theatre nurses but a room in the hospital somewhere in which to provide care for their patient he or she would resign on the spot. If we take away what little access to beds we have when we are on call - many of my colleagues will not cover the on-call rota any more because they will be left looking after someone who is ill - to answer that question, there is no way to treat them and no resources. I agree with Professor McNicholas that everybody in the country knows how to do my job better than I do. Everybody talks about what is required to stop people getting mentally ill. I was a general practitioner and was looking for an inoculation that stopped people from getting mental illness. After 25 years as a psychiatrist I actually take my hat off to mental illness. It exists, it is real and it needs treatment. It does not need counselling or play therapy. Those things are very important for other kinds of problems. Mental illness needs medical treatment and psychiatric treatment in the right place with the correct staff and the correct resources.