Responding to the latest performance statistics for the NHS in England, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"Today's figures confirm the scale of the challenge facing the health service – and the next government – to get NHS performance back on track.

"Trust leaders and their teams are working flat out to ensure no patient waits longer than they need to receive care, but this increasingly feels like an uphill battle. Waiting lists for planned care have crept up again following six months of welcome falls. Emergency departments continue to be incredibly overstretched with demand on ambulance services and emergency admissions reaching record highs for this time of year as they care for the most seriously ill patients.

"Stress and strain are being felt right across the health service with mental health under pressure and waiting lists for community services at a record high.

"Despite this, there has been some welcome progress thanks to the hard work of trust leaders and their teams. Record levels of patients had their cancer checks, planned scans, operations and tests in April.

"But trust leaders know they need to go further and faster for patients. With commitments to improve care for patients at the heart of their manifestoes, political parties know this too.

"The next government must work with the NHS to create a health service fit for the future."