The phrase “developing the NHS during the long age of austerity” was one that I first used in December 2011. It’s one to which I will return frequently over the next few months.

I was making a difficult but true point. Over the last two years or so the NHS has become used to being warned about the importance of saving £20 billion over 5 years from its budget. This saving will be transferred to the expenditure necessary to meet increased demand for health care. This has been described as ‘the Nicholson Challenge’ and has been described by the eponymous David as so big a challenge it “can be seen from space”.