Responding to Labour's embargoed press release on NHS agency costs, the interim deputy chief executive and director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin, said:

"Trust leaders are committed to delivering high quality care. Patient safety is an absolute priority.

"That means ensuring adequate staffing.

"This is extremely difficult with more than 130,000 vacancies in the NHS.

"Funding is very tight, but agency costs will remain part of the picture while staff are in short supply.

"Trusts are doing all they can to avoid unnecessary costs.

"The last thing the NHS needs is to aggravate staff shortages so with strikes looming it's vital that we see the government and unions get round the table to resolve this dispute."