PLANS by Tory ministers and NHS England to tackle massive treatment backlogs during the Covid-19 pandemic and cut cancer waiting times are “already falling short,” MPs will warn today.

In a damning report, the cross-party public accounts committee said that the proposals set out last year were based on “over-optimistic” assumptions about low levels of coronavirus and minimal pressure on health services over winter.

They proved to be very wide of the mark, as a so-called “twindemic” — raising levels of both Covid-19 and severe flu — put unbearable pressure on many hospitals over the Christmas period.