Inside the NHS, winter weather means winter pressure and, in order for the healthcare system to cope, bosses have created a plan.

BBC South East Health Correspondent Mark Norman takes a look at what that involves.

Josie Hannett
Investigations Reporter, BBC South East

I’m out with paramedics from South East Coast Ambulance Service and it’s not long before we are called to our first patient, an 88-year-old woman named Celeste complaining of upper back pain.

“Were you advised to take aspirin when you telephoned 111?,” asks paramedic Lee Carr.

The patient replies “yes” and indicates her pain has gone from a seven out of ten to a three, by the time we’d arrived.

After an ECG carried out in her front room, Celeste was advised to be taken to hospital for blood tests to rule out any cardiac causes.

She refused on this occasion. Lee said: “I think a lot of patients just want some reassurance.

"We’ll arrive and do our observations and quite often they are reassured by that.

"We have to advise they go to A&E for certain conditions, particularly for cardiac sounding pain.”

Phil Harrison
BBC Radio Kent

Good morning from Estuary View Medical Centre in Whitstable, a one-stop-shop which features a Minor Injuries Unit, cardiology, MRI and urology specialists.

They pride themselves on seeing 90% of patients in an hour and see about 20,000 per year.

I'll be taking a snapshot of how the NHS in this part of Kent is coping with winter pressures.

Dr John Ribchester said there is a high demand for services because “Covid affected everyone’s general and mental health because it was so difficult to seek treatment.

He added: "There’s a backlog as a result.”

Hanna Neter
BBC Radio Sussex

Back at Princes Park Health Centre in Eastbourne and I'm meeting Steph whose job today includes working through 25 complaints from patients who haven’t been able to get an appointment in the past few days.

They aren’t clinical complaints, they’re all about access to the services.

On a day last week, they had 300 appointments available across 10 GPs and they had 400 patients calling to book one.

Steph says it gets worse at this time of year. She told me: “We've had tears. Some of our patients are very understanding, but it can be very difficult for staff who are also patients in a practice themselves.

"So they know what it's like, they know the pressure and they do their very best, but it's a very stressful job being a receptionist.”

Josie Hannett
Investigations Reporter, BBC South East

As part of our special coverage on winter pressures in the NHS, I felt a day in the life of a paramedic would give an insight into a key part of it - the ambulance service.

On a cold Tuesday morning I left Gatwick’s Make Ready Centre for a 12-hour shift with South East Coast Ambulance Service paramedic Lee Carr and Trainee Associate Ambulance Practitioner Beth Sutton.

We had six patients to deal with throughout the day, all of them over the age of 76, apart from a 35-year-old man who had a seizure.

Beth told me: “This is a normal day for us.”

We visited East Surrey Hospital a number of times throughout the day, each time we returned dozens of patients lined the corridors of A&E, waiting to be admitted to a hospital bed.

Jack Fiehn
BBC Radio Surrey

Having attended a briefing with NHS managers, I know that they are expecting a “difficult winter”, with more demand and longer waiting times.

They are urging people – if possible - to consider alternative options to accident and emergency, such as the minor injury unit at Haslemere.

There are X-ray facilities there and capacity has been increased so that staff can treat around 60-70 patients a day. That is compared to 30 to 40 previously.

The message is people are likely to be seen much more quickly and that Haslemere is taking “some of the heat” away from the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.

Josie Hannett
Investigations Reporter, BBC South East

An ambulance crew invited us to a drive along to experience a day on the front line of the NHS as the winter pressure ramps up.

Lee Carr, a paramedic, and Beth Sutton, a trainee ambulance practitioner, attended a number of calls including a man having a seizure at Gatwick Airport railway station, a 96-year-old man with breathing problems and a 101-year-old woman who needed help after slipping in her kitchen.

Mr Carr said: "You come into work, you don't know what you're going to go to that day. Every day is an opportunity just to help someone, make a difference to someone's day."

Hanna Neter
BBC Radio Sussex

I'm at Princes Park Health Centre in Eastbourne which has 15,000 patients registered and 50 members of staff.

Senior partner GP Jonathan Andrews said he starts work at 7am and doesn’t turn his computer off until 10pm.

He said there seemed to be a lot more in the way of flus and colds this year, worse than previous years.

On the NHS and pressures on hospitals, he told me: “When you’re referring people they have longer waits and without a doubt the waiting times at the hospitals are disastrous.”

A Kent hospital trust recorded one of its busiest day on record this week as winter pressures begin to bite.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said it saw 724 patients in its emergency department on Monday, compared to an average of 700 a day.

The team said current attendances are about 11% higher than expected for this time of year.

Five years ago, daily admissions were about 400.

Good morning. Thanks for joining us on the live page.

We are about to begin a special day of coverage on the pressures facing the NHS in Kent, Sussex and Surrey this winter.

As well as exclusive access to South East Coast Ambulance Service and Tunbridge Wells Hospital, we’ll have reporters at healthcare settings across the South East bringing insight into the challenges faced by NHS staff and patients on a typical day.

And we want you to get involved too, by sharing your NHS stories by messaging us on Facebook, external, X, external or simply by emailing southeastnews@bbc.co.uk