Responding to the NHS announcement today that more than 40 healthcare 'control centres' are now live across England to help get patients into beds as quickly as possible, Miriam Deakin, interim deputy chief executive and director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said:

"Trust leaders have worked very hard to prepare for what they expect will be an extremely challenging winter. This includes expanding capacity through creating more beds, virtual wards, investment in mental health pathways and increasing the number of 111 and 999 call handlers.

"New 'control centres' could help ease some of the pressure on urgent and emergency care services at this critical time. However, to work effectively, they should support collaboration by local health and care partners to tackle the multiple challenges of the coming weeks and months.

"Urgent action is also still needed to tackle workforce shortages, staff exhaustion and burnout, and the inability to free up capacity by discharging medically fit patients in a safe and timely way."