The NHS only survived the first wave of coronavirus because it was forced to withdraw care from millions

We may not have seen chaotic scenes of the sick filling corridors. But that shouldn’t be the benchmark we hold our health service to. We must aim higher, writes Harry Quilter-Pinner

(AFP via Getty Images)

The NHS has coped with Covid-19 remarkably well – this is the emerging consensus among commentators and politicians as we pass the peak of the crisis.

Take the new NHS Nightingale hospitals as an example. Erected in just a few days in April and kitted out to support thousands of patients, they have ultimately been surplus to requirement in the fight against Covid-19. The London Nightingale has now been put on standby after treating only around 50 patients in its first three weeks.

As a result, it may appear to many that we overestimated the threat of Covid-19 to the NHS and that our existing services have managed the crisis perfectly well. But that is to miss the point of emergency capacity. It is there as an insurance policy: the aim is not to use it, but to have it to fall back on if the worst comes to pass.