The Yorkshire Post says: Saying sorry is not enough, PM. May's apology as NHS crisis grows

Yet, while Mrs May’s appearance was carefully choreographed to show that she’s in charge and listening to the concerns of patients, warm words alone will not suffice. The sick and injured want to know precisely what the Government intends to do to ease the current pressures.

Although the last Budget did secure some extra funding, it’s clearly not been sufficient to enable NHS managers to put in place robust action plans that minimise hold-ups – the acute anxiety felt by those left in limbo as they await consultations, test results and operations can be immense.

Three specific pinch-points clearly need to be addressed. First, GP and out-of-hours cover needs urgent attention in order to alleviate some of the pressures – hospital casualty departments should only be dealing with the most urgent cases.

Second, it’s naive to suggest that ambulances are being misused by the ‘walking wounded’ and so on – most people make their own way to A&E. The issue is the length of time that paramedics have to wait with their patients until they are admitted. Some hospitals have very good triage systems. Others do not. Why?

Finally, there would be less pressure on hospitals if so many beds were not being occupied by patients, invariably elderly, frail and vulnerable, who can’t – for whatever reason – be released due to serial shortcomings in the social care system.

These are not new problems. These difficulties have been getting steadily worse every year, hence why the current crisis is now said to be unprecedented in its scale. As such, Mrs May should be ordering Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, to present an action plan to Parliament next Monday that addresses these challenges – and for Opposition MPs to co-operate where possible. This shouldn’t be about party politics. For some of the patients concerned, the decisions currently being taken could – literally – be a matter of life or death.