Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help prepare the NHS for winter 2023-24.

Winter planning for the National Health Service started earlier this year than in previous years. The urgent and emergency care recovery plan was published in January 2023 which included £1 billion of dedicated funding to support capacity. In July 2023, NHS England wrote to integrated care boards, trusts and primary care networks to set out a national approach to 2023/24 winter planning and the key steps to be taken across all parts of the system to meet the challenges expected from winter pressures.