A new government and a new parliament. What should be the top health and social care priorities? I’d pick out one short term and two long term challenges. 

Top of the urgent list is ensuring the NHS is properly equipped to handle the coming winter. We saw record demand last winter and, although NHS providers treated more patients than ever before, performance against the four hour A&E target deteriorated, the number of long trolley waits and ambulance handover delays rose, and the risk to patient safety risk quickly increased.