Hi jono72, that was my first reaction too, lowish numbers given...

Hi jono72, that was my first reaction too, lowish numbers given the bad winter.

I'm guessing here, and maybe @MyBentley with his ER experience will have an opinion on this, but I wonder if there is of necessity, a degree of "additional" screening going on, versus last year.

Obviously, patients/carers need to give consent first, to take part in the trial. But on top of that, could it be that there are so many paediatric patients this winter that if ER becomes overloaded and/or patient condition demands immediate treatment, that some/many eligible patients are not given the opportunity to give consent, because it is not practical/possible/ethical to delay their treatment. Just a thought. And I'm assuming that the above does not conflict with clinical trial protocols.

Also, the more rigourous protocols in place this year, might exacerbate the scenario I describe above, ie patients must comply with ALL of the protocols to become eligible, I'm sure that has been drummed into the relevant staff handling the cases.