Professor Tom O'Dowd:

Deputy Durkan asked about GP changes. That is a blast from the past. The system I entered was a family business and all kinds of changes have occurred, although one of the practices in Rialto is now in its third generation. People like that. A lack of continuity with the out-of-hours service is inevitable. In my own out-of-hours system, there were 50 doctors. As such, it is inevitable where one is on once every 50 sessions. The other thing is that the IT system we use in the out-of-hours service is not linked with the IT system we use in practice. As such, there is quite a bit of development to be done there.

As to introducing a salaried system, GPs are big employers of other GPs. As such, there is already a salaried system. It is not an exploitative relationship, but there are set rules. GPs employ other GPs as assistants on a salaried or sessional basis. It is not a new system.