Teetering on the brink... our much-loved NHS

There is more than a hint of a crisis in our health service, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confessing it faces “unprecedented demands”. People with flu are being urged to stay away as hospitals struggle to cope with the sheer weight of those requiring treatment.

Although tempting to state health services should have been braced for such a winter influx, it is worth noting that emergency attendances in Tayside and Fife in the week before Christmas last year were up 17% on the same period in 2016.

Many of those admissions were the results of slips and falls, as icy weather caused havoc.

Since then, winter flu has kicked in, leading to many more hospital visits for ill Scots.

Tayside health bosses had tried to anticipate high demand, announcing several months ago that nonemergency operations would not take place at Dundee’s Ninewells, Stracathro Hospital in Angus or Perth Royal Infirmary from December 18 to January 8. Sadly it now appears such measures may not have gone far enough.

Earlier this week it was revealed that office workers were being drafted in to clean wards at NHS Lanarkshire, such were the issues being faced there.

There is no doubting the outstanding loyalty of NHS staff. Ensuring they have the means to provide the best possible care must be a top priority.