Sam Hancock
Live page editor

Image source, PA Media

As the latest NHS England figures were released today, a team of BBC health reporters headed to the Royal Free Hospital in north London to see what happens in an NHS hospital on a day-to-day basis.

We spoke to Margaret, a pancreatic cancer patient, who said she was trying to "be positive" ahead of having surgery to remove a tumour. We spoke to a senior matron as the hospital began operating at its highest level of alert, treating patients in corridors. And we heard from a ward manager who explained the process of patients moving from A&E to wards, and the delays that occur due to a lack of beds.

Meanwhile, you - our readers - have been sharing your experiences with the NHS throughout the day and before we head off, we wanted to bring you a snapshot of what we've heard:

• Alan Cowling described having to spend four days in A&E - but said he couldn't "thank the hospital enough" for looking after him
• Lucy Russel recalled her experience in hospital following the birth of her daughter - saying her postnatal care was "emotionally traumatic"
• Trevor Hartnup said the older he got, the more "neglected" he felt by the NHS - recounting a recent hospital stay as "the worst experience in my 25 years as a patient"
• And Jane Paterson, telling us of her brother's "excellent care" in the days before his death, said "we've all had bad experience, but we forget to remember how bloody marvellous they [NHS staff] are!"

As our health editor Hugh Pym writes, research shows people are proud of the NHS - they just want it to do better.

We're going to bring our NHS live coverage to a close, but thank you for following along - and for contributing if you shared your stories with us. We're proud to have been able to tell them. For more updates on the BBC's day at the Royal Free, though, read our news story.

Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

Patients are still being treated in corridors, but the Royal Free Hospital - which earlier declared its highest level of alert (a four) due to a lack of space - has been able to move down to a level to three in the past few hours.

Peter Hollely, the senior matron in A&E, says a key factor is that the hospital has been able to start freeing up beds on wards, which has eased the pressure in his department.

"At one point we had 20 patients here waiting for a bed," he says. "It’s now down to 12. It’s still busy, but we’ve coped OK".

"One local hospital is diverting ambulances to us and the evening tends to be the busiest period. If we have a surge in walk-ins and ambulances arriving things could change quickly."

Hugh Pym & Chloe Hayward
Reporting from the Royal Free hospital

We've been speaking to Margaret, who has pancreatic cancer.

"I've got to be positive and keep going," she tells us before heading into surgery.

The operation to remove a tumour can take six to 10 hours and lead to complications, her surgeon David says.

And the five year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is low, so early detection is crucial, he explains.

Since the operation, David updates us to say Margaret's doing well but is in need of some oxygen so hasn’t managed to leave the ICU yet.

Someone our health reporters have been chatting to today is Dr Anant Patel - as well as his patient Emily Reynolds - who was being treated for pneumonia at the Royal Free Hospital.

He says when she came into the hospital, it wasn't clear if there was underlying lung cancer, which happens often in patients who have history of smoking - like Emily.

After treating her pneumonia and running tests, it became clear Emily didn't have cancer, and the doctors helped her to quit smoking.

After seeing pictures of the inside of her lungs, she says "just knowing that there was something in me that could kill me... I was really upset". Now, she adds, "I've got a second chance".

Last year, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the government's official forecaster, said , externalthere was every likelihood there would be continued upward pressure on UK public health spending - citing an ageing population, rising ill health and more demand for new medicines and treatments.

The amount of health spending on an individual rises dramatically as they grow older. Average annual spending per person on those aged 45 is around £2,000. For those aged 85 it is £13,000 a year.

As people's incomes grow, research suggests they are typically willing to spend more of those incomes on healthcare, which in the UK is done mainly through the taxpayer-funded NHS.

In its central forecast, the OBR projected UK public healthcare spending will rise by around 3% every year, after adjusting for inflation. This would be broadly in line with average growth over recent decades, although the rate has fluctuated under different governments.

The OBR estimates this trend would add up to roughly an extra 1% of GDP going on public health spending every decade going forward.

The OBR assumes public health spending will grow roughly twice as fast as the overall economy.

People are proud of the NHS - they just want it to do betterpublished at 16:21 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February

16:21 GMT 13 February

Hugh Pym
Health editor, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

Since the birth of the NHS in 1948, the institution has always been seen as a source of pride.

Polling by the Health Foundation think-tank, for the service's 75th anniversary in 2023, suggested that the health service made people more proud to be British than national history, culture, the system of democracy or the Royal family.

The most quoted reason by those polled was that it was free at the point of use.

And yet the 2023 British Social Attitudes survey, in association with the King’s Fund and Nuffield think-tanks, recorded the lowest levels of satisfaction with the NHS since it began in 1983.

It seems both can be true. People are proud of the NHS and most, according to polling, support the taxpayer funded model. They say just want it to do better.

Your Voice, Your BBC News
Emily Doughty

Trevor Hartnup, in Suffolk, spent five days in hospital over Christmas, which he says was "the worst experience in my 25 years as a patient".

He recalls being unable to use washing facilities, instead being given a pot and a towel.

The experience was so bad, he tells us, that he didn't go back to hospital when he later experienced a bout of tachycardia - where the heart beats faster than normal - against his doctor’s advice.

"I don’t think I could have mentally coped with going back," the 75 year old says, adding that he believes the NHS is declining.

"I am nearly as old as the NHS. They have kept me alive this long, but the older I get the more neglected I feel."

Image source, Handout

Even at one of the biggest NHS trusts, thousands of specialist referrals a year can impact wait timespublished at 15:44 Greenwich Mean Time 13 February

15:44 GMT 13 February

Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

The Royal Free London NHS Trust is one of the biggest in the NHS, serving a population of 1.7 million.

When it comes to waiting times, performance in the A&E here and for routine hospital care is broadly in line with national averages.

But that is not the case across every measure. The trust is a specialist centre for a range of conditions, including heart attacks, transplants and certain types of cancers.

This creates a range of challenges.

Take cancer for example. The trust, which includes four hospitals, gets more than 65,000 referrals a year where cancer is suspected. That is the second most in the NHS.

It partly explains why waiting times for cancer at the trust are below the national average - 59% vs 71% for 62-day waits for treatment to start.

Lead cancer nurse Jemma O’Reilly says: “We encourage GPs to refer in and we identify a lot of suspected cancers via screening. We want to catch cancer early, but it means we have a lot of cases to check.”

Your Voice, Your BBC News
Emily Doughty

We've been hearing from Jane, who says her mum's experience in hospital was a "serious eye opener".

"The facilities were awful," she says. "The shower would flood water into the ward - the nursing staff were just expected to deal with that."

Recalling conversations she overheard, Jane also says her family heard "quite confidential information being given to other patients" - leading her to wonder whether it was better to take her mum elsewhere.

But, she tells us, the lack of communication between hospital trusts made this difficult.

"There is a lack of joined-up care, between social care, between counties. I told the doctors I was only taking my mum to Cornwall - not the moon."

If you've got a story to tell about the NHS, we'd still very much like to hear it.

Your Voice, Your BBC News was launched to give our audience - you - more of a say in what we cover and to be part of the news.

Health and the NHS are consistently among the topics you want to talk about, making up around one in 10 of the responses we get.

Among them, hospital services - from waiting times for referrals to the care patients receive - regularly come up as a concern.

We want you to tell us your experiences of hospitals, good as well as bad, whether you're a patient or an NHS staff member.

To do so, you can email bbcyourvoice@bbc.co.uk, WhatsApp +44 7980 682727 or click here.

Your Voice, Your BBC News
Thomas Copeland

Image source, Jane Paterson

Jane Paterson says that her 80-year-old brother John received excellent care at Bristol Royal Infirmary in the days before his death.

John had dementia and was admitted last Christmas with a collapsed lung.

"It was an enormous relief that they understood the dementia was clouding what my brother was really like," Jane says.

"He was treated with kindness and respect even though at times he behaved badly and resisted help."

"The hospital was desperately busy with very ill people, but it was spotlessly clean and everyone was cheerful," she says.

"We've all had bad experiences but we forget to remember how bloody marvellous they are!"

Despite a surge in health spending in recent decades, the UK is by no means an outlier among rich countries.

In 2022, using comparable data on public health spending, the UK was spending around 9.3% of GDP.

That was higher than Canada (7.9%) and Italy (6.8%) as well as the EU average, but less than Germany (10.9%) and France (10.2%).

The US was the real outlier, spending 14.1% of GDP on health, largely because America has a private insurance system with few of the cost controls of other nations.

And those countries have, like the UK, seen health spending rise considerably in recent decades, driven up by growing demand for new medical treatments and ageing populations.

Earlier, our BBC News team was interrupted by a furry friend, Luna the therapy dog.

She came back for an interview with her handler Brooke Reeve, who explains a bit about how the therapy dog programme works.

"She's mainly for staff," Reeve explains, giving "respite and welfare and wellbeing for everybody here".

Luna is very popular with everyone, and she makes people feel "so supported". Luna even has her own staff card.

She's already made us feel better, whilst we type away in the BBC newsroom.

Chloe Hayward
BBC News, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

We have just caught up with Zoe Billingham and her 83-year old mother Angela, who had an internal bleed and needed eight blood transfusions. She has been in the Royal Free for nearly three weeks and almost died twice.

"I was really poorly but they have dealt with it," Angela says.

Full of praise for the nurses and doctors, she says "its been an eye opener" to see how hard the staff work.

Zoe, who works for the NHS as chair of a mental health trust elsewhere, says the care for her mum has been "amazing."

"Mum has made an incredible recovery," she says.

"The nurses have been incredible. Nothing is ever too much trouble and the doctors have been really thoughtful in how they talk to us - I am full of praise for the Royal Free."

Zoe says her mum's ill health has been the "hardest of times", but there's hope ahead - "we said goodbye to her twice, we are now looking to bring her home in the next few days."

Your Voice, Your BBC News
Jade Thompson

Image source, Alan Cowling

Alan Cowling in London tells Your Voice, Your BBC News that he "can't thank the hospital enough" for the care he received at the Royal Free Hospital, after he was admitted with respiratory syncytial virus due to his immune suppressed condition.

"There was nowhere to put me, so they set me up with a bed in A&E. It was the busiest I had seen the hospital. There were patients in corridors waiting in chairs," he says.

"The staff coped as well as they could. If it was not for Royal Free, then my life and circumstances would be so different."

Jacqueline Howard
Live page editor

When we asked you to share with us your experiences of navigating the NHS, we were anticipating some difficult, personal stories - and we got them.

We've heard about Jairo’s elderly mother, who spent 30 hours waiting for a bed while suffering pneumonia, and from new mum Lucy, who described her postnatal care as "emotionally traumatic".

But the majority of stories you’ve sent us actually speak of a deep gratitude for the NHS and its staff doing their utmost to provide excellent care.

Steven told us the care his 81-year-old mother received was "absolutely outstanding", and John Ruddall, who last week rang the bell to signify the end to his radiotherapy, said he did not see evidence of the many reports suggesting the NHS is broken.

Thank you for sharing these moments with us. We’re going to continue bringing you stories and updates from inside the Royal Free in London - where our team of health reporters are based today - and around England as we investigate what goes on inside the NHS. Stay with us.

Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

It's lunchtime and I’ve just caught up with Peter Hollely, the senior matron in A&E.

He’s told me the Royal Free Hospital is now at the highest level of alert, operational pressures escalation level (Opel) four.

It was a high level three this morning and as recently as Monday was on alert level two.

He says the hospital is starting to instigate corridor care as there is no space left in the cubicles or bays with 114 patients currently in the department.

Boarding – whereby patients who need to be admitted are taken to seating areas or on trolleys close to wards – is being maximised to ease pressure in A&E.

“We are coping just about,” Peter says. “We’re not diverting ambulances elsewhere. But it’s very busy.”

This winter the Royal Free has been in and out of Opel four regularly – at one point it spent a whole week at that level.

The Royal Free London NHS trust is the second biggest provider of cancer services in the UK.

However, the waiting time target of patients starting treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral is not being met.

It's also below the average waiting times of England as a whole.

Your Voice, Your BBC News
Bobbi Huyton

Image source, John Rudall

John Rudall, 71, in Weston super Mare tells Your Voice, Your BBC News that, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, care at both Weston General Hospital and Bristol Royal Infirmary has been extraordinary.

He says, “I was diagnosed a year ago. Within hours of my doctor receiving my test results, he arranged a hospital appointment. The consultant then confirmed the diagnosis of cancer and immediately started a course of treatment.

“Every event has always been on time and the staff universally have been wonderful.

“Last Friday, I rang the bell to signal the end of my radiotherapy. I do not recognise these news reports of delays and issues with the NHS. All I do recognise is how lucky I am to have been treated so well.”

Dr Roopinder Gillmore, the cancer lead at the Royal Free London, says the priorities are about the "best patient experience, patient safety, patient outcomes".

Speaking to the BBC News Channel, she says it is a "challenge, but we're genuinely committed to hitting that challenge" of providing top care to everyone.

To alleviate some of the pressure on cancer care, she says "very few" patients are admitted as a consequence of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

They "do everything possible" to ensure patients live the "lives that they want to outside the hospital".

They get a lot of support in discharging and supporting their patients outside the hospital, Gillmore says.