Professor Colette Cowan:

The consultants were worried about the pathway, junior doctors and the work burden. We did not disagree with any of that, so we had to look at the pathway because it was a national pathway concerning both Covid and non-Covid pathways through the emergency department. There had to be engagement with the emergency medicine consultants, who have different views. One has to manage all the different views and come up with a solution, and that is what happened.

The writers of the letter may want a lot more engagement with people, but there are hundreds of consultants. If we were to meet every day, we would get no work done at all. They all have their own requests on developing services, as the Deputy can imagine. They are high-standing individuals who work very hard in the area.