The point of the NHS is that it protects us - not us protecting them, says Patrick Christys

Now, I am genuinely sympathetic to anyone suffering with flu. People do sadly die from it every year, and that is tragic.

But here’s the point: we give the NHS £232 billion a year. That’s more than the entire GDP of Portugal and more than Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Uruguay and Kenya. It is a huge amount of money.

Meanwhile, the NHS medical negligence bill stands at around £60 billion. So let’s be honest: the NHS is not exactly performing brilliantly even at the best of times.

We’re now being told the beds are full, we’re at 95 per cent occupancy. But do you know what the average NHS bed occupancy normally is?

It’s 92 per cent. So we’re acting like this is unprecedented when, in reality, it’s barely outside the usual range.

And you know what else doesn’t help? Yet another round of doctors’ strikes. They were offered a sizeable pay rise and they’re still going out. Around 117,000 appointments have had to be rescheduled since Labour came to power because of strike action.

All of us have been asked to do a lot for the NHS in recent years.

A new coronavirus mutation. Lockdowns. Stay at home to protect the NHS. Shield your elderly relatives to protect the NHS.

Wear a mask. Close your business. Keep the kids off school. Get multiple Covid vaccines. Clap on your doorstep every Thursday.

We even sat through those painfully earnest videos.

Look, it’s winter. It’s flu season. It might be worse than usual. I understand that.

But surely the point of the NHS is that it protects us, not that we spend our lives protecting it.