The NHS faces a "more challenging" winter than normal, the health secretary has warned, as she announced £140 million of capital funding for 14 urgent care schemes in England.
Yvette Cooper set out the package early on Sunday in a Department of Health and Social Care release, which said the money would pay for new urgent care centres, same-day emergency care, additions to the ambulance fleet and the modernisation of emergency departments, with a further 25 sites opening for the winter.
The announcement follows a summer in which almost 7.3 million A&E attendances were logged in England between June and August, the highest figure recorded for a summer period, according to NHS England's monthly statistics published in September. The department said the NHS had begun preparing for the impact of seasonal illnesses as early as July.
Ms Cooper said the government had been preparing early and investing in extra urgent care capacity. "That's why we have been preparing early and investing in extra urgent care capacity to help get patients the care they need," she said.
Among the 14 schemes is a new A&E department at a hospital in Romford, east London, where Queen's Hospital has been the subject of a long-running campaign by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust for new emergency facilities.
Emma Rowland, NHS England's executive director for performance and delivery, said the service expected a difficult season. "We know this winter will be tough for the NHS and we're doing everything we can to reduce pressure on our emergency departments and make sure patients get the care they need, while protecting our staff," she said.
"Investment in same-day emergency care and urgent treatment centres will help more patients get the right care in the right place, at the right time." She also urged people eligible for flu and other winter vaccines to take them up.
The Royal College of Nursing said the funding was welcome in the short term but amounted to "just another sticking plaster on a system that is at breaking point".
Patricia Marquis, executive director of RCN England, said: "The nursing workforce needed to deliver these services goes into winter already running on empty and short of staff.
"With the Budget just weeks away, ministers have the opportunity to provide the real investment needed to grow a nursing workforce fit for the future and ensure patient care is protected all year round."
The warning from Ms Cooper comes after the NHS national medical director, Professor Frankie Swords, said earlier this month that hospitals were showing "ominous" signs of an early flu season, with admissions for the virus the "highest" she could remember for the time of year. Covid admissions were also expected to rise.
In September, health experts warned of a "twin crisis" for the service, with the effects of the summer's extreme heat combining with winter illnesses such as flu and norovirus.
Ms Cooper said in August that the NHS should plan for heatwaves in the same way it plans for winter.
The funding applies to England only. Health is devolved, and the Scottish health secretary, Angela Constance, has set out separate winter plans for NHS Scotland.
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