YESTERDAY, a county GP had to deal with an everyday occurrence - he had to find a hospital bed for one of his patients.

Simple, you might think. But his quest turned into a nightmare. There wasn't a bed to be found in Worcester, Redditch, Hereford, Gloucester or Solihull.

Eventually, Cheltenham came up trumps and offered a space for his patient.

It is, of course, only the middle of September - some weeks away from the beds crisis which plagues the NHS each winter. So the situation, we fear, can only grow worse.

Mid-Worcestershire's MP, Peter Luff, seems to be of like mind. He believes that there is little which can be done to prevent a severe crisis during the winter if the problem is at such a severe level already.

Peaks and troughs in demand are all part of life in the NHS, and it may be that so-called "bed blocking" is a partial explanation for the growing plight of patients.

But, we think, the problem is much deeper and will not be solved solely by moving elderly people out of hospital and into care homes.

At a national level, this government has had to start repairing a health service which suffered two decades of severe underfunding. Investment is growing, but not quickly enough by a long chalk.

Locally, of course, we have seen how the closure of beds at Kidderminster General Hospital has damaged the county's health service.

Interestingly - and disturbingly - there were empty beds in Kidderminster yesterday, but they'd been shut pending the opening of the new Worcester hospital next year. Doesn't that seem crazy?