How ready is the NHS to cope with upcoming winter pressures?

The UK health security agency is urging eligible people to get the flu jab after the number of cases doubled over the last week. Covid rates are also rising – adding further pressure to an already-strained NHS.

New figures show patients in England are enduring long waits in ambulances and A&E. And while the number of people waiting for treatment has fallen slightly from last month, it’s still hundreds of thousands more than when Rishi Sunak promised to reduce waiting lists by the end of this year.

Our health and social care Editor Victoria Macdonald has been to a hospital in Walsall to see how they’re coping.