Dr. Madeleine Ní Dhálaigh:

As I mentioned earlier, I am in practice in Castlerea, County Roscommon. Historically we had a very large psychiatric institution in the area so as a result of that there are a lot of healthcare workers in psychiatry living and working in the community, in the unit in Roscommon and in Ballinasloe. The problem with accessing care is that if people who have family working in the Roscommon service or any of the local services become unwell they may not want to go into that system. There is a problem with postcode psychiatric services and it is particularly problematic in rural areas as people who need very serious psychiatric care are unable to access it with any degree of privacy in the local hospital because of employment arrangements. This is something GPs have been talking about for a long time and it causes a lot of stress for the patient, their family and the GP. It is grossly unfair and does not affect any other area of medicine except psychiatry and, therefore, it must be looked at very seriously.