People were repeatedly told to seek treatment when they needed it and not to be put off from going to A&E. It was a pretty regular topic on the daily press conferences.
It is no surprise that people decided that the risk of seeking treatment was not worth it.
So I really don't buy the "seek treatment when needed" line. The public was both cajoled intensively into not using the NHS, and the NHS itself shut down a lot of its basic services. Not just reduced. Shut down entirely. For over two years.
I'm friends with one of the radiation safety officers who was responsible for overseeing the shutdown and then the restarting and recommissioning of the equipment. The NHS shut down! What we are seeing now is the consequence of that. And we were expected to both pay for it, and applaud this weekly.
I hope that if there is one outcome from this pandemic, it's that we never allow such a situation to cripple the whole economy and the health service in such a way again. The cost of closing it all down will be many times greater than the cost of the pandemic itself. It should never have been done, and we need to look long and hard at the pressures and the decision-making that led to this.