General practitioners involved in the treatment of drug addicts in Dublin have threatened to withdraw treatment unless the Department of Health provides more support services. At the first meeting of the General Practitioners Specialising in Substance Abuse, Dr Ide Delargy, who co-chaired the meeting, said some 1,000 people, almost half of Dublin's drug addicts, were treated by GPs. The numbers were rising but facilities and financial support were lacking.
Dr Delargy, a GP co-ordinator with the Eastern Health Board drugs service, said: "The feeling at the meeting was that the Government must decide if it wants this level of GP involvement and if it does it must recognise the enormous increase in workload.
"The GPs feel that there are not adequate training or resources to help GPs. They need counselling, outreach facilities, collection and testing of urine samples. There must also be financial remuneration for the increased workload," she said.