Dr. Diarmuid Quinlan:

I thank the Deputy for the question. General practice is a fantastic, rewarding, intellectually stimulating career. There are financial challenges, as expertly outlined by Mr. Moran, but it is a phenomenal career. This week, I had in my practice a young doctor who had just returned from Scotland. She was engaged in my practice as a medical student in 2014. She has an interview for the ICGP training scheme in February. We are engaging continuously and we are reaching out internationally to support and bring people back. I have also had a report from a colleague who moved to Scotland recently. She tells me that the big different between her working as a GP in Donegal and working in Scotland is that she has enormous supports, such as have been described here today, in terms of healthcare systems, GP nurses, advanced nurse practitioners, nurse prescribers and a great deal of administrative support, including practice management support. These are all of the requirements we have highlighted in our document, including the working group. My colleague has all of those supports in Scotland, which enables GPs to work at the top of their licence throughout their working day. We are working very closely to recruit young GPs to this fantastic career. The financial piece is important. As mentioned by Dr. Crowley, he is a doctor primarily not a business person. I would look forward to working on the ICGP collaborative working group with all of the stakeholders to look at the future of general practice. It would be a high-level working group with real muscle to deliver.