Hospitals everywhere are in crisis. Norfolk health chiefs hire refrigerated lorries to act as a temporary morgue extension. Across England, intensive care beds are in worryingly short supply.

In York, operations are cancelled and a gynaecological ward given over to emergency admissions. In Scarborough, the opening of a new ward is postponed because of a lack of staff.

Some of these problems can be partially blamed on the flu outbreak. Thousands of people have fallen victim to the illness, putting extra strain on hospitals. But this is nothing out of the ordinary. Even with the virus claiming 80 per cent more victims this week than last, it is far from an epidemic.

Flu is normal in a British winter. The fact that this outbreak has brought much of the National Health Service to a standstill demonstrates the perilous condition of the service.

There can be no doubt that a shortage of nurses has exacerbated the problems. Scarborough General Hospital is unable to open its new ward partly because of sickness levels. But managers admit that they are finding it increasingly hard to recruit nurses to staff the ward anyway.

This problem is affecting hospitals all over Britain. Until nurses' pay and status are improved significantly, the situation can only get worse.

The flu outbreak has also highlighted the instability of the NHS. Health Secretary Frank Dobson reacted to the crisis by releasing £150 million for initiatives to clear hospital beds. The money was welcomed by health chiefs. But if hospitals had been properly funded in the first place, they would not need emergency cash to tackle such an entirely foreseeable eventuality.

Mr Dobson's cash injection will only provide a temporary restorative to the ailing NHS. His next move should be to re-examine the Government's emphasis on reducing waiting lists.

Some doctors believe the intense pressure to cut the lists has filled hospital beds with non-urgent cases, leaving no room to deal with the flu crisis. Others feel that patients should be treated on the basis of clinical need, rather than how long they have waited.

Some longer-term thinking is needed to stop the NHS lurching from crisis to crisis. Even when the flu has flown back to Sydney, it will only take a cold snap to overwhelm our hospitals with casualties of the snow and ice.

Mr Dobson needs to stop fire-fighting and find time to consider how best to secure the future of the health service.

see NEWS 'Hospital beds crisis deepens'

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