Dr. Susan Finnerty:

That is very difficult to do. The non-consultant hospital doctors are doctors in training to become psychiatrists or to become GPs. The level of training differs. One could have a person who has just started his or her training or a person who is finishing the training making those decisions, taking outpatients and so on.

On the recruitment of consultants, it is very difficult to recruit consultants in an area where there are no consultants, if the committee gets what I mean. In an area where there is an active service, where teams are well staffed and there is good training and continuing professional development then one will tend to attract the consultant psychiatrist. We can see this around the country. In areas where teams are poorly staffed or where there is long-term difficulty in recruitment of consultants, one finds that retention is also a difficulty.