Dr. Madeleine Ní Dhálaigh:

I thank the Senator. With regard to what Dr. Quinlan said, when I started as a GP I did not regard anything that was not patient facing as work because it was hardwired into me that it was my job. Very quickly I realised that a huge proportion of my work was paperwork. Going back to what we said earlier, it is about support. We need to get in there before the GP gets burned out. Peer support and exercise are very important but we need to provide support to GPs before they get to the point where they are absolutely overloaded with work.

A point particular to women is that maternity leave cover is very difficult. We have good support for women who are partners to take maternity leave but the problem is accessing a locum. It is a huge stress in pregnancy for GPs not to know whether they will be able to take a week or full maternity leave. We have colleagues who went back to work much earlier than recommended for anybody else in any other place of work. This is something we really need to address for our female colleagues.

Another element is that many female colleagues who are planning families with their partners will be reluctant to take on partnerships for this very reason. They will stay as assistants because they know that as assistants they will be able to access maternity leave, even if it is unpaid. A practice may not be able to pay them because it will not be subsidised if they are assistants. There is a vicious cycle for women. It could be easily addressed if we supported women to get into partnership. It comes back to supporting our younger colleagues and they will deliver.