During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been considerable focus on the escalation of critical care capacity, capability and delivery. Early in the first wave, NAP7 was postponed and, as part of assessing when anaesthetic and peri-operative services might have returned to a stable baseline and thus be ready for starting NAP7, the authors of this new paper undertook a series of national surveys in order to track activity during the second wave of the pandemic. Their work describes and quantifies the huge pressures on the anaesthesia and critical care workforce during the winter wave of the pandemic, and the devastating drop in surgical activity. Joining us today we have Dr Emira Kursumovic and Professor Tim Cook. Their work was published just last week, is highly relevant to hospitals, healthcare staff and patients alike, and was featured in the mainstream media.