Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

The waiting list in England stands at nearly 7.5 million – that is nearly 3 million more than before the pandemic.

More than 40% have been waiting longer than the target time of 18 weeks.

Over the past year it has shown signs of coming down, albeit very slowly. It hit a record high of 7.7 million in September 2023.

Obviously Covid caused numbers to jump up as treatments were cancelled en masse.

But since the pandemic ended hospitals have found it difficult to make major inroads into the backlog.

Despite more money and staff, the number of treatments being started did not really start getting significantly above pre-pandemic levels until the second half of 2024.

And the concern is the pressures of this winter may have hampered efforts make bigger inroads into the backlog.

Medical director of the Royal Free Hospital, Dr Jennifer Cross, has just spoken to BBC Breakfast, saying "it's an enormous challenge" trying to discharge everyone who is ready to go home.

There are currently 275 people in the Royal Free London NHS Trust who are ready to go home, but cannot be discharged because there's not enough support outside the hospital.

"We know being in hospital when you're well medically isn't good for you... so we need those patients home," she says.

They are working with local community groups "to get these beds cleared".

Cross says she would like to see more digital innovation to "do things differently" and use the NHS resources "as well as we possibly can".

She adds a move "towards prevention" would help ensure people stay well and use services less.

"I'm actually optimistic despite the situation and the challenges that we face," Cross says.

Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

Taking waits in A&E, ambulance queues outside hospital, 999 response times, and bed occupancy levels on hospital wards, this has been one of the most difficult winters since records began in the early 2000s.

Only in 2022-2023 could you say the delays and pressures were particularly worse.

We’ve had a bad flu season, while rates of the vomiting bug Norovirus have been higher than normal. Covid also continues to circulate and add to the pressures.

Another key problem has been the high number of delayed discharges – patients who are in a hospital bed, are medically-fit to leave, but cannot because of the lack of support available in the community.

By early February, one in seven beds were occupied by patients who did not need to be there.

That has been a major contributor to what NHS bosses have described as gridlock in hospitals.

Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

Much of today’s coverage is devoted to a hospital in London - and the latest NHS performance data for England.

They will show an NHS under tremendous pressure. But it is the same across the rest of the UK.

The way waits are measured differs across all four nations.

But what is clear is that all are missing their key targets, covering cancer care, A&E and planned care - and that has been the case for some time.

It is actually over 10 years since Wales or Northern Ireland hit any of their three key targets.

Scotland was the last nation to hit a target – the four-hour A&E one in July 2020 – but it has seen a sharp deterioration since then.

In many ways, A&E is perhaps the best barometer of all to judge how hospitals are coping – Northern Ireland is doing the worst with more than half of patients waiting longer than four hours.

Hugh Pym
Health editor, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

Senior management say it's simply to be transparent and reassure local communities that they are striving for the best possible standard of care.

They want people to know they are always busy and to understand how there might be alternatives to going to hospital.

Staff, we are told, appreciate media coverage of their daily challenges and frustrations.

The Royal Free London trust has also has extensive experience of dealing with the media, including during the filming of Hospital documentary series.

Trust leaders know what to expect when TV crews and reporters spend time on site and press officers are available to accompany broadcast teams.

Most smaller hospitals are less confident about the media and can be reluctant to open the doors to journalists.

BBC News will retain editorial control and aim to show things as they are: shortcomings as well as positives.

The Royal Free is one of the biggest trusts in the entire NHS, incorporating four north London hospitals – the Royal Free itself and Barnet, Chase Farm and North Middlesex hospitals.

In total it employs more than 17,000 staff and is the second biggest provider of cancer services in the UK.

We will be providing reports from many of the key areas of the Royal Free, including the A&E unit, the wards, its specialist heart attack centre and transplant and cancer units.

We'll also be at Chase Farm’s innovative open-plan barn theatre where multiple operations are carried out at the same time.

Hugh Pym
Health editor, reporting from the Royal Free Hospital

Image source, EPA

Scarcely a day goes by without the NHS being in the news – even more so during the winter.

At 09:30 GMT, new numbers from NHS England will reveal how the system coped during the peak of winter pressure.

We will learn how many patients were stuck on trolleys or chairs in A&E for more than 12 hours waiting for a hospital bed.

There will be stats on the number of people waiting for more than two months to start cancer treatment and more on the nearly 7.5 million waiting for planned treatment.

But finding out what this really means for patients and staff is not always easy, as access to busy hospitals is hard to come by.

That's why BBC News decided to cover the latest updates on how the NHS in England is performing at one hospital trust - Royal Free London NHS trust.

From early in the day, until late evening, we will talk live to staff, and watch the flow of patients from arrival to discharge.

We will monitor the situation in the emergency department, see the cancer care and hear about complex surgery and high-end research.

Difficulties discharging patients who are medically fit because of social and community care issues will be all too clear.

On the page, we will follow the activity through the day and shine a light on corners of a busy hospital which are rarely seen.

• Read more: Why the BBC is spending a day in a NHS hospital