As is often remarked, the NHS has long been something of a national religion – not just an organisation that we can rely on in times of need, but something in which we collectively have invested our faith and trust.

The ‘N’ in NHS has come to be a key part of this: a feeling that we are all in the same boat, buoyed by relying on the same unimaginably large and complex organisation wherever we are in the country.

So it is unsurprising that we have come to expect consistent excellent standards across the country and anything that diverges from this national mean is not acceptable.