Ministers cannot ignore the horrifying reality of the NHS crisis

There comes a point in every crisis when the rather esoteric benefits of the resolute approach are far outweighed by the human costs of sticking to a policy that has far outlived its usefulness. So it was during the pandemic, when measures unprecedented in peacetime were implemented – and huge debts were run up to save lives. So it should be again, now, with the NHS crisis showing no signs of abating.

Even before the occasional and limited industrial action, the NHS was buckling under the strain. “Broken” is too strong, too politically loaded and too emotive a word to describe the situation now because many patients are still receiving superlative care from dedicated staff; but the stark facts and harrowing stories from the frontline speak for themselves.

The Independent’s comprehensive investigation of the state of the NHS reveals some of the more unpalatable truths that lie behind statistics that are already disturbing. Official data, for example, already shows that the number of patients waiting 12 hours in A&E rose by 44.1 per cent, just between November and December – some 54,532 fellow citizens, many in acute pain and suffering great anxiety.