Responding to new urgent and emergency care winter figures from NHS England, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"Winter is always tough for the NHS and this year will be no exception.

"Nasty bugs including norovirus, flu and respiratory syncytial virus are piling the pressure on already stretched services and staff and this is likely to get worse as we head into the festive season.

"Delayed discharges continue to be a huge worry for trust leaders with nearly 13,000 patients stuck in hospital when they don't need to be, largely because of stresses and strains on social care and community services.

"The knock-on effects of this are already being seen at the NHS' front door with a worrying increase in ambulance handover delays.

"Hospitals, mental health, community and ambulance services continue to do everything they can to treat patients as quickly and as safely as possible as we head into winter. But faced with high bed occupancy, winter bugs and handover delays alongside the spectre of more industrial action by junior doctors in the coming weeks, this is looking increasingly challenging."

You can follow our analysis of the latest winter situation report figures from NHS England through our NHS Winter Watch campaign.