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I'm David O'Ronovich, welcome to the briefing room, the Metaversal Mind Chamber,

where you, me, the top experts and a big subject collide and then resolve for 28 minutes.

This week, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised urgent action to tackle the NHS crisis.

But what are the quick fixes? Are there any quick fixes to problems like chronic staff

shortages, the thousands of bed blockers and the backlog of people waiting for surgical procedures?

Right now, on almost any measure, the National Health Service is experiencing a crisis.

We can all debate long-term solutions, but just for this week, I want to know if there are any quick fixes to get us through our current predicament.

Step inside the briefing room and together we'll find out.

First, let's put some numbers to and explanations for the difficulties besetting the NHS

and take a look too at how they compare to those in other similar countries.

With me now in the briefing room at Annabelle Collins, a senior correspondent with the Health

Service Journal.

She's with me in the studio.

And joining us from Paris is Mark Pearson, who's an international health expert with the

organisation for economic cooperation and development, the OECD.

Annabelle Collins, I think we need to try and define the central problem

that the NHS is facing right now.

So let's start with the stats.

Where are the key stats on NHS performance going?

Some stats were released this morning,

and this has shown a record number of patients delayed for over 12 hours in A&E departments from the decision to admit to admission.

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