Dr. Peter Boylan:

There will be, inevitably, some increase in hospital admissions. Maternity hospitals and maternity units are incredibly flexible by their nature because they have to be. For example, the number of deliveries in the large maternity hospitals has increased from approximately 5,000 15 to 20 years ago to 9,000 now without any increase in infrastructure. A proportion of women present with spontaneous miscarriage at all hours of the day during the week, on weekends and so on. They are dealt with as they turn up and the same thing will happen in these circumstances. There will be an increase in workload but we do not anticipate that it will be overwhelming.