Dr. John O'Brien:

I am answering on behalf of the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP. First, I reiterate what was just said about alcohol. It is clear that we have a national psychopathology around alcohol. If I say that when I was a medical student I drank Lough Erne and that I met my wife in a pub with a whole load of pints on me, everyone would smile indulgently. However, that needs to stop. We need to stop smiling indulgently. We have to get to grips with this because it is an avenue to mental health that is staring us in the face, and it is most particularly the case with vulnerable people in vulnerable communities. It is one of the great scandals that we have not addressed as a community.

Another speaker asked what They a GP needs at the point of presentations. need time. The usual GP consultation takes ten to 15 minutes. More often, in poorer areas, it is ten minutes. What does anyone think a GP could address in ten minutes? It is very little. A specific time needs to be aside. People do this. There are heroic efforts to which they go to provide the time to people. As Mi Angelo used to say, people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But no one will ever forget how you made them feel. This is the essence and the kernel of a good general practice service. We need more GPs, practice nurses and psychologists.

Another speaker asked what GPs need at the point of presentations. They need time. The usual GP consultation takes ten to 15 minutes. In poorer areas it is more often ten minutes. What does anyone think could be addressed in ten minutes? It is very little. A specific time needs to be set aside, and people do this. The efforts to which some people go to provide the time to people are heroic. As Maya Angelou said, "...people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but no one will forget how you made them feel". This is the essence and the kernel of a good general practice service. For that, we need more GPs, practice nurses and psychologists.

There is one last point that I need to make. It concerns entry to general practice and the disappointment voiced at the fact that we did fill our quota of GP training places this year. The ICGP is in charge of the interview process for it. We interviewed more than the allotted numbers and we offered more places than the allotted numbers but the acceptances were less than the allotted numbers.