Dr. Colm Henry:

Absolutely. I totally agree with what the Chairman says. It is not enough for us to accept matters at face value. We did not do so when we did our first survey and found that a number of hospitals were not compliant. Our response to them was this: what do you need to do to become compliant? This was notwithstanding concerns they had about infection prevention and control and their infrastructure. It is because of that ongoing questioning and interrogation and the direct advocacy and concerns of the women and partners involved that we are pushing hospitals to do whatever they can to comply with the guidance we have given out, which, as I said, is about recovering as quickly as we can to that pre-pandemic level. I do not mean to labour the point but, as I said, and as the Chairman echoed, we are constantly balancing the risk. We have found that Covid-19 is a very volatile virus in its impact on the population in healthcare settings. The vaccination programme brings great additional protection to people and certainly has allowed us much greater freedom and has opened up choice for us in respect of visiting and other hospital services. I totally support what the Chairman says. We need our hospitals to be innovative to acknowledge the importance of partners, particularly in difficult situations, as Senator Kyne outlined. That is what our staff want and what we are working towards.