Hugh Pym

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Even by the usual standards of New Year pressures, it has been a traumatic week for much of the NHS.

In England, an unprecedented call has gone out from NHS leaders that a month's worth of non-urgent operations and appointments should be postponed. That's been echoed in other parts of the UK.

The prime minister and the health secretary, responsible for the service in England, have apologised to patients.

There's a growing sense at a senior level at Westminster that enough is enough and that a new approach is needed. The events of this week, with stories of patients enduring long waits in ambulances and on trolleys in A&E, have reignited the debate about the future of the NHS and social care.

There is now significant momentum behind calls for a long-term cross-party solution. Taking the issue away from the heat of short-term political point-scoring is the aim of those who want a new consensus in the 70th birthday year of the NHS.

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A former head of the civil service announces his departure as chairman of a major London hospital and attacks the government's handling of the NHS.

Regulators say the hospital has the worst financial performance in the service and is heading for special measures.

Winter is here, the NHS is under mounting pressure and national A&E targets are being missed. So how does Luton & Dunstable University Hospital consistently buck the trend?

Current figures show 98.6% of patients are treated, assessed or discharged within four hours in A&E, comfortably ahead of the 95% target.

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He warned waiting lists would get longer if the Budget did not deliver enough extra cash.

Now Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, has begun to spell out the consequences, as he sees things, of the chancellor's decisions.

The Budget is over, the battle lines are drawn. Stand by for a prolonged period of speculation about how NHS England will respond to a funding announcement one of its top officials, Sir Bruce Keogh, has described as "worrying".

There's talk in the air of rationing and a further downgrading of targets for patient care.

The last days and hours before a chancellor gets up in the Commons to deliver a Budget are always full of speculation and uncertainty.

Usually key parts of the public sector get a sense beforehand whether their behind-the-scenes lobbying has been successful and they will be in luck with the Budget handouts.

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How much could the death toll from suicide be reduced?

Deaths by suicide annually in the UK are the equivalent of the likely number of fatalities if 20 long-haul flights crashed each year, according to campaigners launching the Zero Suicide Alliance.

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A charitable foundation funding medical research has said it will spend up to £1m on a study of brain injuries in footballers.

This follows a BBC documentary by the former England player Alan Shearer highlighting the potential long term risks of repeated heading of a ball and the plight of retired professional players who have developed dementia.

To say it was a high stakes gamble is probably an understatement.

The demand for more money ahead of a Budget by a senior public sector official looked unprecedented, certainly in recent years.

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The launch of an NHS online GP service with video consultations has stirred up a lively debate.

Some see it as an obvious development, given public familiarity with banking and shopping on smartphones.