Around half of accident and emergency departments, polled by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, have said they are "full to bursting" this Christmas. Dr Ian Higginson, its vice-president, told Sky News' Gareth Barlow on Christmas Eve that the situation for the NHS in the UK is "pretty grim" at the moment. Dr Higginson said half responded and "all but two of them said that the emergency departments were absolutely full to bursting".
Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger has died following an avalanche in Switzerland, the country's skiing federation has said. Hediger, 26 and a member of Switzerland's snowboard cross team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, was in the mountain resort of Arosa when the incident occurred on Monday. Hediger competed at the Beijing Games in the women's snowboard cross and the mixed team version of the same event.
Allan and Helen Thornhill are attempting to visit all 238 RNLI stations over two years.