Our critically injured public services beg for help, but the totem signifying the state of the nation will always be the NHS. The monthly waiting time reports on ambulances, the state of A&E, the wait for cancer or GP appointments: all take the nation’s pulse.
The latest figures showed a twitch of improvement. Can a government only 100 days old claim any credit? Alastair McLellan, the editor of the Health Service Journal, suggests it probably can, as health trusts accelerate activity. But, he says, the £3.2bn elective recovery fund that pays for weekend and evening operations is running dry. Hospitals say they could do more, but only with cash for staff overtime.
