Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care announcement today to expand NHS services for falls and frailty, as well as create more virtual wards to keep vulnerable people out of hospital, Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive at NHS Providers said:

"New measures including the expansion of virtual wards and services for falls and frailty will help ease some of the strain on urgent and emergency care services. It is a timely announcement as trust leaders battle with record-high pressures on the entire health and care system.

"Throughout what has been an incredibly challenging winter for the NHS, trusts have been working tirelessly to boost capacity via more beds, virtual wards, investment in mental health pathways and ramping up the number of 111 and 999 call handlers.

"However, though these new measures are welcome, they are not enough in themselves. We desperately need action to tackle the vast workforce shortages, staff exhaustion and burnout, and the inability to free up capacity by discharging medically fit patients in a safe and timely way."