@MRex
It's going in the right direction overall, but some nice drops are being counterbalanced by rises in other areas so it's patchy, which is good for most of us but isn't a good sign for the hospital pressures easing soon.
On that front, this was apparently among the evidence given to the Commons health committee today, according to the Guardian livefeed:
One of the witnesses giving evidence to the committee was Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals and other NHS trust. He said that hospitals may not reach peak demand until early next month, instead of mid to late January had been assumed. He told the committee:
We were hoping for a sharper peak that came sooner and shorter - so something, for example, where we saw the peak and started to crest it in mid to late January. It now looks like the peak for NHS demand may actually be in February.
If that is right, that’s going to mean there’s a higher level and more extended period of pressure on the NHS.
When asked about the peak being delayed a month, Hopson said: “I wouldn’t necessarily say a month, I may say two or three weeks perhaps, so early to mid February.”
Not good news to say the least