ANOTHER day, another warning on the desperate state of the NHS. This time it is from Healthwatch, the statutory body set up to represent the interests of patients.

The Healthwatch local groups in York and North Yorkshire have warned that plans to cap NHS expenditure in our area will force local clinical commissioning groups in York and Ryedale to make further “significant cost reductions”.

These could massively affect local health services, the organisations say. Wards and minor injury units (such as those at Selby Memorial Hospital) could close, there would be even longer waiting lists for hip and knee replacements, longer waits in A&E, fewer choices for patients - and even difficulties in recruiting health staff.

NHS expenditure in York and Ryedale is set to be capped because the NHS nationally says regional health bosses have been exceeding their budgets.

But Healthwatch says funding allocations fail to take into account the challenges of providing health care in rural areas - and that the NHS in York and North Yorkshire has been seriously under-funded for years. York GP Dr David Fair agrees. “Because of that, it is inevitable York CCG is not going to have enough money,” he said.

The NHS is already on its knees as a result of years of chronic underfunding and increased demand. These latest warnings simply underline the extent of the crisis.

Prime Minister Theresa May has plenty on her plate at the moment. But she mustn’t let worries about Brexit and terrorism result in her government taking its eye off the ball when it comes to the NHS. It matters too much to the people who rely on it: and she and her government would pay a terrible electoral price if they fail to recognise that.