Responding to the chancellor's announcement of measures to help with energy bills and rising prices, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers Miriam Deakin said:

"Like everybody else NHS staff are feeling the enormous pressure of rising living costs, especially younger and lower-paid workers and people who work remotely traveling to care for patients in their homes. This extra support is welcome and necessary.

"Trust leaders are doing everything they can to help staff and to manage the effects of soaring inflation and spiralling fuel and energy costs on their budgets as they work hard to make efficiency savings and cut costs.

"While today's announcement of grants towards energy bills and one-off payments for low-income households is welcome it is vital that we see, for example, more support for community health teams who travel long distances to visit patients in their homes. They should be better compensated for the amount they have to spend on petrol.

"The strain on people's living standards takes its toll on health too and trust leaders are very aware of the risk that health inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic could get worse due to the financial situation.

"The government's forthcoming white paper on tackling health disparities – a key priority for trusts – must address the wider causes of poor health and help to close the gap in healthy life expectancy between people in the most deprived and affluent areas."