Therese Coffey’s NHS plan won’t avert the winter crisis

How much of a difference will the ‘Plan for Patients’ unveiled by Therese Coffey really make to the NHS crisis? The health service is already operating in winter mode (which generally means not really working and under extreme pressure) and the temperatures have scarcely dropped. The Health Secretary’s opening big announcement today was what she described as ‘the first step’ in the government’s ‘journey’ of addressing the challenges facing the health service.