Sobering Christmas message from Prime Minister highlights precarious moment ahead for NHS

Responding to today's Downing Street briefing, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the NHS was already facing its most challenging winter on record before the discovery of a more virulent strain of COVID-19 and even with these latest measures, we are still likely to see increased transmission of the disease and a deteriorating situation facing other frontline NHS services, despite the best efforts of a stretched health and care workforce