The fact that the health service has faced extreme pressures over the festive period will come as no surprise given the grim warnings that were issued beforehand.
In the run up to Christmas it was already clear the GP out of hours service and hospital emergency departments were under enormous strain.
This was placed into sharp focus by Dr Alan Stout on December 19 who explained that two GPs on out of hours cover faced a backlog of nearly 400 calls in Belfast compared to the 10 calls that would be the norm.
We know that among those waiting many hours to speak to a doctor are the worried parents of sick children affected by the spike in Strep A infections.
There have also been other conditions including flu, respiratory and vomiting bugs which have been widespread over the Christmas break, leading to further strain on a creaking system. With further signs that Covid cases are on the rise, there appears to be something of a 'perfect storm' of infections this month.
Yesterday Dr Tom Black, chair of the British Medical Association, said pressures on GP services in Northern Ireland reached record levels in recent days.
On Christmas Eve, there were 640 calls to the Western Trust's out of hours service compared to 158 on the same day last year.
It is not entirely clear how an already struggling system is supposed to deal with this level of demand and the fear is that seriously unwell patients will not get the timely attention they need.
And if concerned people are unable to speak to a GP then it is almost inevitable that many will decide they have no option but to make the trip to an emergency department where, again, health staff are struggling to cope.
So what is to be done?
Dr Black says staff will have to continue to prioritise the most seriously ill patients but it is obvious the health service as we know it cannot go on like this.
In many respects it is a broken system which needs wholesale reform, a sustainable strategy for the recruitment and retention of staff and a workable plan to tackle waiting lists.
This work is long overdue and is now needed more urgently than ever.
