Flu season is badly exposing the cracks in our healthcare system

This is emphasised by the fact that a number of NHS trusts in England have declared critical incidents amid exceptionally high demands on emergency departments.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust declared critical incidents on Tuesday morning, while NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group declared a critical incident at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital on Monday evening.

The flu season is the “straw that is breaking the camel’s back” when it comes to urgent care, according to Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

Here in Yorkshire, York and Scarborough hospitals are urging patients to attend the emergency department alone, if possible, as demand rises.

It is sensible advice and given the perilous state the NHS finds itself in, everyone needs to do their bit to protect hospitals from needing to declare emergencies.

However, there is a danger that the country is becoming inured to the perennial state of crisis that the NHS finds itself in. This is no way for a healthcare system to function and the Health Secretary, who will get a pass this winter owing to the change in Government, needs to ensure that the NHS doesn’t continue to collapse under the growing pressures it faces.

It’s telling that hospitals are refusing to sign off ambulance crews even when they've handed patients over, with paramedics being forced to do portering instead. Therefore hindering ambulance responses to emergency calls.