Responding to the energy costs support package announced by the prime minister today, the interim chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery said:

"Trust leaders will welcome the announcement made by the prime minister today to include NHS trusts within their energy costs support package.

"Urgent action was needed to address the soaring energy bills trusts and other public sector bodies are facing and we are glad that a decision was finally made today to protect public services from spiralling energy costs. However trusts need more detail from the government about how the equivalent energy price guarantee will apply to them over the next six months.

"It is essential to ensure that all public service providers are treated equally and given the same support as businesses and charities.

"Without these measures, many trust leaders would have been hit by an exorbitant rise in energy costs, with no price cap available to them, with others being increasingly exposed as their current energy contracts expire.

"The wider measures will also provide a degree of relief for our hardworking staff, patients and the households they live in at a time of increasing financial hardship which has already impacted on the public's health and worsened health inequalities.

"Today's intervention is only part of the solution. Our members have seen inflation eating into the core NHS budget and eroding the cash settlement confirmed at last year's spending review.

"Despite the encouraging news today, we are still seeing vital resources being diverted from the wider NHS budget to cover the recent pay award announcement – which the government failed to fund centrally – including proposed cuts to community diagnostics and digital innovations."