Winter ends but NHS pressures felt all year round

07 March 2024

Responding to the latest winter data from NHS England, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"Winter may have ended but pressures on the NHS persist.

"Flu, norovirus and Covid-19 have put staff and services under strain week after week. We've seen consistently high levels of ambulance call outs, staff sickness and unrelenting pressure on beds over the past few months with delayed discharges remaining stubbornly high.

"Urgent and emergency came under real and sustained pressure over the winter months, with far too many patients having to wait far too long to receive the care they needed. In the coming weeks, trust leaders and their teams will focus on improving waiting times in A&E as they strive to meet challenging, key national recovery targets.

"Frontline staff are doing everything they can to treat patients as quickly and as safely as possible but the worry remains that far from being a seasonal issue, 'winter pressures' are now being felt by the NHS all year round."

You can follow our analysis of the latest winter situation report figures from NHS England through our NHS Winter Watch campaign.