Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

That is always a question one will ask oneself in any crisis, but I would not accept that the response was lacklustre. In fairness, a number of other jurisdictions are experiencing similar issues. We had put in place a winter plan, but what we are currently experiencing is in excess of the most pessimistic modelling we had in that plan. Just before Christmas when it became clear, particularly with the increase in the levels of influenza, that the system was going to experience even further unprecedented levels of demand, we commissioned our crisis management team and took additional steps. While that led to 772 people being on trolleys on the worst day, namely, Tuesday, 3 January, matters quickly settled down thanks to the efforts of the staff.

We will seek to learn lessons. No response is perfect, but we would not accept that, overall, the response was-----