Dr. Colm Henry:

There is not much. As the Chairman will be aware, in January we had a confluence of three viruses, including RSV, to which he referred. For the second year running, it hit much higher levels than it had done in the previous five or six years. There were also influenza and, of course, Covid-19, and all three peaked around the same time for a two- or three-week period, which caused significant pressure. As for what we can do about it, as the CEO mentioned, it is about our public health capacity, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and our vaccination programme. I mentioned earlier in response to one of the Chairman's colleagues the disappointment we experienced regarding the childhood uptake of flu vaccination. While serious influenza is, thankfully, a rare illness in children, they are a reservoir for influenza affecting older, more vulnerable people, so we want to see big improvements in that regard. We cannot predict when viruses will come together, but we can certainly work hard on a vaccination programme and improve general, overall health to protect those who are vulnerable.