Is the NHS in more trouble than usual this winter?

Rather like Santa, mince pies, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and the (execrable) Mrs Brown’s Boys special, the NHS winter crisis has become something of an annual ritual. Indeed, only those now in their sixties can recall a time when the media wasn’t routinely full of stories about overcrowded wards and emergency departments at breaking point.

- SEAN O'GRADY

The peak of the Covid pandemic was obviously the worst of times, but the coronavirus, with its numerous variants, hasn’t disappeared. Indeed, this winter has brought what the NHS officially calls a “quad-demic” of viral illnesses, the seasonal peak has arrived early, and the health service is already in trouble. Flu cases are up fourfold on 2023.

What’s a ‘quad-demic’?

It is what we have now, because, unlike in past years, there are now four distinct, well-established, and prevalent viral illnesses that are potentially serious enough to inflict substantial damage to health, and in rarer cases can be fatal. Hence “quad-demic”. They are influenza, norovirus (“winter vomiting bug”), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and, of course, Covid-19.