The Yorkshire Post says: Who is to blame for NHS crisis - hospital bosses or government?

The themes are familiar ones. The Government says it is making more money available – a further £2.8bn was set aside in last week’s Budget – while health professionals say it is not enough.

Yet, while the public are, on the whole, sympathetic to the financial wishes of the NHS, and specifically the pay demands of frontline medical staff, the ability of well-remunerated managers to handle the record resources at their disposal is open to question.

Hospital trusts don’t need more managers. Quite the opposite. They need better leaders and it would be helpful if Leeds-based NHS England recognised this subtle difference.

That said, hospitals – and their finances – are not helped by deficiencies in social care provision, one policy which was a glaring omission from Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget.

They will also not be assisted by the number of elderly patients who require treatment for hypothermia – it’s shameful that a lack of political consensus has led to little progress being made on Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis’s cross-party attempt to improve the energy efficiency of properties where vulnerable OAPs live.

And it’s certainly true that well-documented shortcomings in GP cover and provision are an aggravating feature. Yet these are not new phenomena. They have been known for years and repeatedly highlighted by The Yorkshire Post and others. Why, therefore, is progress so painfully slow? Is it the fault of the Government or NHS leaders? Discuss.