Ms Anne Marie Hoey:

I cannot comment on the individual case the Chairman referenced but it is certainly not something we would encourage or condone in the interests of the safety of both the staff and the patients they are managing. We rely on senior clinicians to manage such situations to ensure those long hours do not occur. We are also obliged to adhere to the EU working time directive.

As regards an increase in our medical staffing, we have increased our medical staffing significantly in recent months. In the year to the end of June, we increased the number of doctors in the system by over 1,100.