WE HAD hoped the enormous pressures on York Hospital seen over the New Year were easing.

Today's report about a patient being woken in the middle of the night and moved onto a trolley to free up beds suggests not.

Helen Thorne was woken at 1.15am and moved into a temporary ward along with five other people.

Some patients were distraught at being moved at such an hour. This is understandable, but the hospital remains under huge pressure.

Ideally, it shouldn't be moving patients in the middle of the night. But if that was the only way an extremely ill patient could be admitted, perhaps it was unavoidable.

What everyone needs to know is that steps are being taken to reduce the pressures on our hospitals.

As York health economist Professor Andrew Street said in January, the buck stops with Whitehall. Someone in national government needs to take a long, hard look at the health service – and come up with a plan to stop such problems.