Responding to the prime minister’s statement on local lockdowns, chief executive Chris Hopson said:

“We welcome the prime minister’s announcement that tougher local lockdowns will be introduced wherever needed.

“We must ensure the NHS can treat every patient, COVID and non-COVID, who needs help this winter, the NHS’s busiest time of year.

“At the same time, frontline NHS staff are already tired and in danger of burning out. To protect them, we must do all we can to ensure a manageable winter workload.

“We must do everything possible to quickly cut the spread of the virus and reduce the number of COVID patients who need to come to hospital.

“NHS frontline leaders would therefore urge the government to work with local leaders to implement local lockdowns as soon as they are needed. The last few weeks have shown the danger of moving too slowly or implementing looser lockdowns that then need to be strengthened later.

“NHS leaders are well aware of the difficult judgements here, the health risks of economic recession and enforced social isolation and public fatigue with restrictions. But if the government fails to move quickly enough or decisively enough now on local lockdowns the full national lockdown we all want to avoid will be much more likely.”