The virus is a chance for the NHS to change for good

In a matter of weeks we have seen the NHS deliver the kind of transformation that would ordinarily have taken years, writes Niall Dickson

NHS workers have been granted free access to more than 85,000 online games (Getty Images)

It is no coincidence that the NHS is the institution that the British public is most proud of. Our staff continue to put their lives on the line for the health of the nation – the NHS has performed heroically under extreme pressure. We are not out of the woods yet with Covid-19, but the message from the NHS is clear: we are open for business and ready to begin the slow path to recovery.

The obvious first issue is to restore services to hundreds of thousands of patients who have had their care and treatment halted or curtailed, while we focused on coronavirus care. This will mean reviewing clinical priorities.

But the universal cry from every quarter – hospitals, community and mental health services, GP practices – is that we must not return to where we were before Covid-19. We have an opportunity not just to recover, but to reset the way that we think about health and care in the UK.