Dr. Brian Osborne:

I will respond to the question on GPs and how they manage stress. The college has a health in practice programme and it also runs a GP "take care" programme of well-being at all its conferences. A question was asked about what we do if a GP is stressed and if there is a stressing event personally or professionally? In the current situation, especially in urban deprived and rural areas, we cannot even get a locum, so the GP cannot even take a day off. It comes back to recruitment and retention. Deputy O'Loughlin mentioned there is no GP in Ballymore Eustace. That will become more significant because there will be vast swathes of the country without GPs. Deputy Michael Harty's "No doctor, no village" campaign was quite apt in that context. When people are travelling 50 m to 60 m round journeys for their 80-year-old depressed grandmother, there will be an outcry and it needs to be addressed. It comes back to recruitment and retention.

FEMPI is driving young doctors out of the country and forcing older doctors to retire.