Tom O'Dowd
@todowd
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GP West Dublin. Past President Irish College of General Practitioners. Emeritus Prof of GP, Trinity College Dublin. All views are my own.
Dublin City, Ireland
Joined April 2009
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A patient who works for a bank had to get permission from her manager to take an hour off to see me. Then was asked to get a note to say attended or would lose an hours wages. This is wrong. And from one of the banks that broke the country.
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At this morning’s Covid vaccine clinic over 30 people didn’t turn up for their 2nd vaccine. Despite having a card with time and date. Phone calls went unanswered, others said they were unable to make the date and could they have another. Vaccines and staff time all wasted.
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Irish prisons have had no case of COVID. Astonishing work by staff and prisoners using an educational model. Congrats on such good work.
@IrishPrisons
@CharlieFlanagan
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Did a GP clinic from kitchen table today. IT worked a treat. Talked to 17 referred 10 for COVID tests incl 4 members of 1 family. Controlled anxiety but call welcomed+. A privilege to be still useful after 41 years of doing the job.
@darachociardha
@ritakj
@ICGPnews
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Vaccinations in full swing here in Tallaght Cross. “If I was any happier I’d be mad” said one gent.
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Everyone was wearing a face mask in this newsagent’s in Cahersiveen today.
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Back of fag packet : 8 million vaccines: 3,000 GPs. 2,600 vaccines per GP. Say 100 per week each. We would have everyone over 16 done by June in Ireland. Give or take. Many of us are up for it.
@DonnellyStephen
@CMOIreland
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Requested a COVID test for a patient at 1.30 today. Heard a ping at the other end. Patient had a look at phone. Appointment for a test at 3.30 this afternoon. With that level of response we are on top of this thing.
@HSELive
@paulreiddublin
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It feels like the resources of our State have been mobilised for us GPs. We thank you all for this.
@DF_Medics
@AmbulanceNAS
@HSELive
@ICGPnews
@IMO_IRL
@paulreiddublin
@DonnellyStephen
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Hard to believe there are people out there who haven’t been vaccinated. There are - and they request face to face consultations. They put other patients, staff, nurses and doctors at risk. After all we’ve been through it’s not right.
@muirtheimhne
@paulreiddublin
@ICGPnews
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Close COVID contacts all admit to having to overcome natural caution to visit relatives over Christmas. Even discussed it with partner as recognised it was risky. Seemed unable stop. All admit to feeling ‘stupid’ now. We need more behavioural science input.
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At 9am today we already had 217 patients on our appointments list of 4 GPs & phlebotomist. All looking for a piece of us. Every day will be a tough day in GP land from here on in. And it’s August still.
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“I don’t see cancer as a fight because the enemy is too powerful to beat. I see it as a journey with an unwanted travel companion…”
Gianluca Vialli after 5 years of pancreatic cancer. “Unwanted travel companion” more helpful than “battle with cancer”?
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Meeting non medical families of young doctors who are appalled at the way they are treated. Long unsupported hours, exhaustion and unhappiness. One just gave up before his internship with the support of his parents. HR is poor. Occ Health needs to speak up.
@SimonHarrisTD
@ritakj
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Lot of ripple effects after a Covid diagnosis. Certs for work, symptom advice, prolonged symptoms, chest X-rays, mood disorders. And the singular grief of survivors who couldn’t be there when the time came. No answer to that.
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I retire from the GMS next week but staying on. My wonderful colleagues presented me with this inscribed vase to mark the occasion. The practice hasn’t let patients down, has stayed the course and respects a vulnerable humanity. Proud and grateful.
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As a senior GP I have become disconnected from hospital affairs as we have enough to cope with ourselves. But as father of a young doctor I realize how hard hospital nurses and young doctors work. More nurses and mid grade doctors are needed. This picture is tragic.
❤ Irish nurses and midwives in Sydney supporting the strike!
#StandWithNurses
#StandWithMidwives
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4000 GPs on
@IMO_IRL
webinar on vaccine roll out tonight. Superb presentations and commitment. Begins selectively on 15th Feb for >&5’s. No on will be left behind.
@ICGPnews
@HSELive
@paulreiddublin
@DonnellyStephen
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Vaccinating the last of our over 80’s today and impressed with their knowledge of COVID and vaccines. They get their uncomplicated news from trusted sources, know there can be risks but not a jot of hesitancy.
@rtenews
@FergalBowers
@HSELive
@ICGPnews
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Who said GP is an easy gig? 8.30 am & 333 patients booked in already for vaccines and ‘routine’ consultations.
@IMO_IRL
@ICGPnews
@muirtheimhne
@paulreiddublin
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#Budget2023
My heart sank with the news of added 430k free GP care. Great in a system with slack but will be chaotic in our current system. No groundwork laid with
@IMO_IRL
or
@ICGPnews
Seems we are not believed about GP workforce crisis?
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Prescribed an antibiotic for a patient with sinusitis and was asked if the capsules were vegan. I’m really not in that kind of practice. I deal in methadone, antidepressants, benzos & antipsychotics. The downstream effects of poverty. Vegan capsules are too upstream.
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From the kitchen table clinic: now have accces to eScripts which means I send a prescription electronically to participating pharmacist. Who texts the pt when it’s ready. Things won’t be the same after this.
@ICGPnews
@HSELive
@ClanwilliamIRL
@JohnMinihan
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As doctors we are getting to grips with virus protection. Spare a thought for our community pharmacy colleagues who are in the trenches and very vulnerable.
@IrishPharmacy
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What will you retain out of all this! There have been unexpected developments in healthcare during Covid. Public health, GP, ICU, Virology, Occ Health, Pharmacy, Nursing, IT, HSE, Medical Council have burned brightly. I’m sure they’re are others. Mine as a GP follows:
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Done for the morning. The hum in the waiting room was like a pub after hours without the clink of glasses - yet.
@muirtheimhne
@paulreiddublin
@HSELive
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Met a founding father of general practice Bill Shannon this evening. Never doubted what he was building but is astonished at the success and quality of GP today in Ireland. Still interested in what is going on - at 81.
@ICGPnews
@juneshannon
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Call this morning from our great colleagues
@_TheNMH
Holles St to include our Tallaght practice in vaccine roll out. A great act of collegiality from across the city. So sadly missing among closer hospitals. Not right.
@HSELive
@MaryOKellyOT
@DonnellyStephen
@paulreiddublin
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I felt like an old school GP as I did a home visit. We don’t do nearly as many as we used to esp in urban practice. It took me an hour from start to finish. Invaluable for end of life and the housebound. Plus a warning that the little dog might bite as I left.
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Following up an elderly person I visited last week by phone I said why don’t you keep it by your bed, after several attempts. No need. There’s only you and the priest who ring me. I’ve no one else left.
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Patient told me today about how well looked after she felt. Guards on the street checking people, HSE sending planes to China for gear for doctors & nurses & her doctor answered her call when she wanted help. Keep it up Ireland.
@gardainfo
@HSELive
@LeoVaradkar
@SimonHarrisTD
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Looks like the Oxford vaccine may well limit the transmission of Covid in addition to protecting the individual. It is designed for fridges so easier for cold chain distribution. 2021 shaping up well. Hang in there folks.
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@Damian_Cullen
As GPs we get loads of glossy brochures from the Beacon advertising their wares. They know where we are and that we have a long list of deserving patients to whom 20 vaccines would make a difference. Shove your brochures lads and send vaccines.
@darachociardha
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A doctor honestly outlined the painful family sacrifices of working in Ireland on RTÉ
@Mary___Wilson
this pm. The kind of warm skilled doctor you’d want in your corner. And her family want her in their corner too. How can we recruit in the face of such trauma?
@GabrielleColle7
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A warm interaction with a long standing recovering drug user.
How’re things : Ah like yourself doc, duckin’ an divin’.
A conversation followed on the trials of keeping good staff. He’s now become an employer. A great outcome.
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Me : ‘And a final question now, have you or anyone in the house been abroad recently’. Patient : ‘yes we have, we cycled from Moate to Athlone last week and got f*****g drenched’. Typical Dub.
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I want to wish my colleagues in the GP out of hours Co Ops who are there today for patients who are bearing illness among the festivities. To colleagues who are suffering ill health I hope things will improve. Let us hope for brighter times ahead.
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Anyone watching Dopesick about the marketing of Oxycontin for moderate pain? Michael Keaton’s portrayal of a family doctor is poignant. The Sackler family were a rum lot. Should be on every undergrad medical curriculum.
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V little vaccine Hesitancy in Ireland. Pharmacists are powering ahead with younger group and 11,000 over 50’s. It is our passport to freedom.
@ICGPnews
@muirtheimhne
@DonnellyStephen
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Watching
@MiriamOCal
talk to GP Dr Fiona Kelly in Castletownbere. Despite her commitment GP services are fragile. We’ve got a big GP problem in rural and deprived communities. We need a task force on the future of General Practice.
@ICGPnews
@DonnellyStephen
@paulreiddublin
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Meeting older patients who are wistful and sad. They seem to have lost some social skills and become a bit isolated. What hurts them most is being taken for granted by family. “They’ve never really noticed me but it seems to hurt me more now”. There is no pill for that.
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Numbers attending today were up 30% on last week at the GP kitchen table clinic. Blood pressures, diabetes, alcohol misuse, asthma, panic etc showed up. There’s a lot of commonsense out there.
@ICGPnews
@HSELive
@FergalBowers
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These Ukrainian doctors have made Ireland their home and are looking after us. We now need to look after them. They need our help and I’m asking you to support them and to retweet their message. Slava Ukraini!
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#Creeslough
Dr Paul Stewart local GP rallies around and supports the community. He has lost friends, neighbours and patients. The explosion reminded him of the Belfast he grew up in. Such sadness in Paradise.
@ICGPnews
@DrRoryStewart1
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“......and will you have it yourself then doctor?”
GPs will have micro leadership roles in advising on the vaccine. The real evidence test is will “my GP” have it.
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This has been a tough week. We have lost 2 giants of Irish medicine. Great players with a strong sense of duty and commitment to humanity. Profs Davis Coakley
@tcddublin
and Alan Johnson
@RCSI_Irl
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This group of young white Irish people have the whiff of Oglaigh na hEireann. People repealed a Constitutional amendment that was foisted on them. By 2 to 1. Now leave our GPs alone. Stop bullying them. You, your parents will need them one day.
@SimonHarrisTD
@campaignforleo
Day 3, January 2019 and the
#loveboth
'pro-life' groups are already outside clinics intimidating & harassing women.
This has to be stopped
@campaignforleo
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74yo on her last vaccine:
“Can I get the hair done now”
Of course. What colour were you thinking?
“Red passion 43”
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428 applications for 202 GP Training places in 2018. Highest ever number of applications. Highest ever number of places.
A 50% increase on 2017 - 272 applications for 187 places.
@SimonHarrisTD
Congrats to
#beagp
@ICGPnews
. Now let’s give them a good GP contract to work towards.
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This is how fragile general practice/life can become. This situation has spiralled out of control in admittedly exceptional times. Bravo Dr Fergal Ruane Belmullet. We need better support for sick GPs.
@ritakj
@paulreiddublin
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@darachociardha
@FineGael
@slaintecare
The most rewarding clinical work I’ve done over the last 20 years is providing a GP methadone service. Patients have gone on to become taxpayers, mothers & fathers. GPs are right to call out poorly informed political leadership.
@DrMarkMurphy
@josephamadigan
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Great to see the vaccine being launched. Selected frontline hospital staff getting it too. Wondered when it is planned to vaccinate GPs? None of us have heard anything.
@hselive
@IMO_IRL
@ICGPnews
@paulreiddublin
@DonnellyStephen
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Annual meeting of retired GP group with registrars in TCD/HSE training scheme. Invaluable exchange of wisdom - average age 73. Great valuable occasion.
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Letter to GPs from Pieta House will be news to those who believe it looks after suicidality. No it seems it doesn’t really. Serious exclusions restricts its scope. Voluntary organizations are no response to this big sad serious issue
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A GP/orthopaedic initiative on waiting lists saw surgeon John Quinlan visit us this evening. 11 patients in urgent need of treatment discussed. Some expedited, management advice on others. Very educational and productive.
@HSELive
@DonnellyStephen
@ICGPnews
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Medical Council on medical workforce : We produce more med graduates than others in the OECD. We rely on international doctors for our hospitals. Fewer specialists than most countries. Can’t go on.
@DonnellyStephen
@SimonHarrisTD
@LeoVaradkar
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#
#3GoodThings
1)Watching my colleagues grow and become players
2)The woman who said to me today “we’ve been through a lot Tom” I looked after her 4 yo son at home who died 17 yrs ago.
3) Working out of splendid premises for a great community
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Greetings from the GP kitchen table clinic in Dublin on World Family Doctors Day. Great being useful after all these years. Looking forward to getting back into the practice where we can plan a very different future from the past.
@ICGPnews
@HSELive
#worldfamilydoctors
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@Antcon7062
This was my letter to the Irish Times about doctors conscientious objections. Being in a profession means restricted freedoms. If GPs get a pass on CO other specialties will want the same. If doctors stigmatise abortion further it is not good.
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For those whose mood has taken a hammering over a long dark winter there is hope in nature - admittedly suburban. Early flowering trees, snowdrops and most of all a stretch in the evenings and more light. This is 5.30pm in my local park.
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Discussing the introduction of a community paramedic service in GP with colleagues in the ambulance service. Worked well in Buncrana. May have application in urban centers.
@darachociardha
@AmbulanceNAS
@hseliive
@NasDirector
@ICGPnews
@cathalodonnell
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1951 the bishops backed the doctors and jointly wrecked the Mother & Child Scheme. 1983 the doctors backed the bishops in the 8th amendment. No one shouted stop & women lost out on both occasions. The Med profession is finding its voice in 2018.
#repealThe8th
Met a bunch of GPs today. All talking Repeal; about their 'missing' patients who never discuss this health issue with them. Talking about the isolation and loneliness of making the decision alone. The medical voice has been silent for too long. It is becoming vocal.
#Together4Yes
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What are you doing at home to keep safe these days?
Here’s what we do in this house:
1 We keep masks and sanitiser at the front door to remind us to take one on the way out. We keep disposables ones for those who visit and don’t have one
2 Always wash hands when we come in.
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@ICGPnews
now organised 10 COVID webinars with 700 - 900 GPs logging on to keep up to date. Tonight we had COVID in children, therapeutics and epidemiology. A committed knowledgeable GP workforce has rocked up.
@HSELive
@gpbuddy
@CMOIreland
@SimonHarrisTD
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Long Covid is making itself increasingly known to us. Debilitating for patients and frustrating for medics. The fatigue seems all pervasive when the other symptoms subside.
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DNA’s ‘did not attends’ are a problem in both GP and outpatients. It is maddening and a waste of resources. What is even more maddening is hospitals sending patients back to their GP for another referral letter.
@HSELive
@DonnellyStephen
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Patients find it increasingly difficult to get through to us and to get a f2f consult. The workload has not settled into a pattern. There seems to be no end to it. I wish I could magic up more doctors and nurses.
@ICGPnews
@PracticeNurses
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Known homeless John Paul for years. Relocated to a village during COVID. Back for his benzos etc.
JP Are you minding yourself
Me Are you being nice to me
JP Ah I missed seeing you
Me But I’m always giving out to you
JP Sure thats your job man
Life at the kitchen table clinic
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How impossible life has been for parents of a child with autistic features that is on a waiting list for diagnosis. Just the internet for help. And a long list of fob offs “ best go back to your GP”. Everyone has to work harder for these families.
@HSELive
@SimonHarrisTD
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15
90
It’s difficult not to feel hurt and disrespect by such empty promises. Esp when you say GPs are central to managing COVID. Lauded even. Have we been taken for granted? We put ourselves on the line.
@CcoHse
@paulreiddublin
@DonnellyStephen
@IMO_IRL
@ICGPnews
@DonnellyStephen
@paulreiddublin
@CcoHse
it seems clear that there never were vaccines for GPs, wasn’t part of the plan. Some hospitals received an over-supply & vaccinated local GPs. Stop talking about this portal & just level with us. Please
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We need more GPs. Lots of us are heading out to grass over the next few years,
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@ritakj
That is institutional bullying. Pure and simple and totally wrong. I’m ashamed of the way we treat our young colleagues. I can’t understand why the consultant body doesn’t speak out . Has the
@WRC_ie
a view on this? Has
@hselive
a view or
@paulreiddublin
?
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Could we ask that this leave is uncertificated. It runs the risk of the child needing to attend a GP for what will often be self limiting illness to get a parent certificated.
@IMO_IRL
@rodericogorman
@ICGPnews
1
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GP Flu vaccination in full swing in Tallaght. Great use of GP out of hours centre. With HSE support.
@MaryOKellyOT
@cwilkinsongp
@ICGPnews
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Made 4 referrals this morning to Belfast under the cross order initiative. Dermatology and eyes. An amazing method of getting around these service black spots. Patients and families v grateful.
@HSELive
@DonnellyStephen
@ICGPnews
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@davidmcw
No bigger burden than a woman struggling with a crisis pregnancy on her own. I seldom see the partner. I never see her family as she hasn’t told them because of their certainty - either way. Choosing is a lonely journey. Let’s give women support.
#Repealthe8th
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#WorldFamilyDoctorDay
This day last year many of us were working remotely. A long year on we are edging our way back to seeing patients safely in our clinics. This is one of the many great GPs that helps to keep Ireland healthy.
@darachociardha
@ICGPnews
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Budget & General Practice: All innovators deflated today. DEPR support document criticises GP for being inefficient. Awful misunderstanding of our struggle in a ragged system. NTPF incentivises double dipping.
@SimonHarrisTD
@McGarryPadraig
@andyjjordan1
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