Ms Anne O'Connor:

As part of the overall winter plan, we are particularly targeting the last two weeks in December and the first two weeks in January because evidence from and reviews of previous years indicate particular challenges in those weeks. As part of that we will make enhanced hours available within community services because there is often a perception that at that time of year hospitals are in dire straits and some community services are not open. We plan to make more services available within the community, offer enhanced supports to GPs, enhance diagnostics and, working with private providers, consider a different approach to how we bring people into hospital. A specific set of measures for that four-week period will be set out in the overall winter plan.