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After more than two years battling COVID-19, the NHS is struggling through its worst winter crisis in living memory and is facing a daunting task to clear the huge backlog exacerbated by the pandemic. Nearly six million people are on the NHS waiting list for routine treatment in England alone. As patients, often with worsening conditions, pour back into the NHS after putting off treatment, health secretary Sajid Javid warns waiting lists could top thirteen million.

So how exactly do we tackle the backlog? In this new three-part series, the Economist鈥檚 Health Policy Editor, Natasha Loder, assesses the scale of the problem and its impact on our health.

In this first episode, Natasha looks at the pressure created by the unprecedented demand on the different areas of the NHS from emergency services to GP surgeries by speaking to frontline workers, managers, policy experts, and patients.