The NHS will be 65 years old on 5th July. In that time, our health system has undergone profound change, with the recent Health and Social Care Act introducing the most wide-ranging reforms since the NHS was founded in 1948.
Healthwatch England analysis shows around a quarter of the £43.5 million made available by the Department of Health to fund local Healthwatch has failed to materialise in local Healthwatch accounts.
Each winter, the NHS faces extra pressures. Hospitals become busier as cold weather, flu and other winter bugs lead to falls, chest infections or heart problems.