Dr. Diarmuid Quinlan:

I will answer two of the Senator's questions. One is about the brain drain from low and middle-income countries to resource-rich countries. The HSE has signed up to the WHO agreement on that issue. We support and endorse that.

Looking at the mental health issue, this is really important to the Irish College of General Practitioners. Many of our patients have severe and enduring mental health issues. Working with the HSE, we are looking at several issues on that front. The first is the physical health of these people. People with severe and enduring mental illness die, on average, between 13 and 30 years younger than everyone else. There is an appalling loss of life for this cohort. A substantial part of that relates directly to their physical health issues and needs. The second issue is that there is a substantial void in the ability to access counselling for people, when they need it, in a timely fashion. Working with the HSE, we are looking at appointing a GP clinical lead in mental health. Ultimately, we would like to see a chronic disease management programme for people with enduring mental illness, among others, similar to the existing and really good chronic disease management programmes for asthma, COPD, diabetes and heart disease. Mental health is something we are passionate about and on which we are working closely and on an ongoing basis with senior HSE staff to deliver.