What I have said applies not just to the accident and emergency department, but to wards throughout the hospital where staff have coped superbly with the influx of admissions resulting from the Flu Crisis.

The internal investigation is under way, but can the Secretary of State tell the House whether the Flu Crisis caused the lack of beds in Herefordshire which caused Mr. Smith to be moved?

The Recent Flu Crisis, outbreak or wave - whatever hon. Members care to call it; regrettably, I have sampled it from a patient's perspective - validated the warnings given by health managers, doctors, nurses and others about the pressure that the NHS was under.

My Lords, would it help the National Health Service to overcome the problems it has endured during the Present Flu Crisis if all flu vaccinations were free?

Until the Flu Crisis, the Government convinced themselves that some of the longstanding problems of the NHS, bequeathed by the previous government, were being tackled.

The purpose of our motion on that occasion was to allow debate on the impact of the Flu Crisis.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Thomas) also talked about a hospital, Northwick Park, which, I am told, had a Serious Flu Crisis over the winter.

These are the problems that bedevil us, and which come to light all too clearly in circumstances such as the Flu Crisis last winter.

It was announced in 1998 and began in April 1999, but it collapsed that first Christmas as the Flu Crisis hit the national health service and the Prime Minister panicked on the David Frost show.

Worthing GPs are particularly annoyed to have received no fees from the Government for flu jabs for the over-65s, despite the Government claiming success for averting a Flu Crisis.

We have debated on several occasions the Government's excellent preparations to deal with the prospect of a Flu Crisis.