Mr. Robert Watt:

Nobody knows the demand we are going to see during the winter. That depends on the prevalence of various respiratory diseases. The flu season in the southern hemisphere was quite severe this year and there is always the potential for Covid to re-emerge. We are anticipating a difficult winter. As Mr. Reid and the team can confirm, we have had a high level of attendances and admissions in emergency departments during the traditionally quieter times of the year and that reflects the higher population over the age of 75 with greater needs and higher levels of frailty. Nobody can predict the demand but we expect it will be higher, which will add pressure.

The teams, particularly Mr. Reid, Mr. McCallion and so on, are working intensively to prepare for this. A plan is in draft and the Minister hopes to bring it to Government next week or the week after that for publication as soon as possible, given the winter season is starting and the cold is starting to set in. There are two aspects of the plan, namely, the traditional winter planning, for which there will be additional money, which the Minister mentioned yesterday in the budget, and the benefits from the higher recruitment and increase in capacity we have seen in recent years, which will help the system in responding. In addition to the traditional winter plan, the CMO is making recommendations to the Minister in regard to the vaccination policy and measures people can take to keep themselves safe during winter.

There is a variety of measures, with a significant endeavour to mitigate the effects on the system as best we can. In all likelihood, there will be significant demands and difficult moments over the coming weeks and months.