Breathless, Gemma Roberts knows the road to recovery will be a long one.

For at least the next few months, the four walls of her front room will be her reality.

Unable to move far after spending two months unconscious on a ventilator, she’s totally reliant on her fiancé, Sophie, as she battles against a severe case of long COVID.

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She didn’t get the vaccine and with the emergence of the new variant, she now wants to warn others of the dangers of complacency.

“Whilst I was in the coma, I did have eight cardiac arrests, suffered with sepsis… I had to have dialysis. My family were contacted quite a few times, to say I probably wasn’t going to make it.

“You don’t want to be 35 and having somebody else to cook food for you, help you walk again… basically learning everything from when you were a baby. I’d take it, just take the vaccine.”

But Gemma is not alone in her suffering.

COVID’s devastating legacy has led the Warrington and Halton hospital trust where she was treated to set up a dedicated unit for people suffering from the debilitating long-term effects of the disease.

Dr David Lyons, a GP who runs the unit, says people still need to take the virus extremely seriously as it has not gone away.

He said: “The people who are coming to us tend to be middle-aged/younger, people who have good jobs, they’ve got family responsibilities, they might have carer responsibilities, and suddenly they’re shattered, and they can’t get out of bed in the mornings properly, and their lives are completely turned upside down.”

And as we move into winter there is nervousness at this trust, as there is elsewhere.

With patients waiting longer for planned surgeries across the country, the next few months will be difficult.

The operating theatres here are now running at nearly full capacity, but it’s clear that COVID is still having a massive impact on the NHS.

Lewis Cumming was meant to have his knee surgery before the pandemic. He has now been treated and has nothing but praise for the care he received, but he tells me it’s been a rough couple of years dealing with persistent chronic pain.

“You don’t know when it’s going to end, how long is a piece of string? You don’t know when they’re going to do it, especially with the COVID restrictions.”

Pressure on the health service remains incredibly high with nearly six million people currently on waiting lists.

At this trust they are finding innovative solutions to deliver operations, but the spectre of COVID is everywhere.

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Extra cleaning takes up valuable resources – and with nurses changing PPE around 50 times a day, taking two minutes each time, it all adds up to time that could be spent with patients.

For the surgical staff, there are also frustrations.

Dr Ashtin Doorgakant, consultant orthopaedic surgeon, says coronavirus is still challenging every aspect of what the NHS does.

“The new variant’s coming out and we don’t know what impact that’s going to have on the system and how much pressure it’s going to create again, and every time we have one of these situations it just basically prolongs the waiting again, it eats into some of the gains we’ve made.”

Since the pandemic started, there have been so many unpleasant surprises and the new variant leaves us all with so many unanswered questions.

Back in Gemma Roberts’ front room, she is hoping that with her little but consistent bursts of physiotherapy, she will get well again soon and make a full recovery, but in a time of COVID she knows there are no guarantees.

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