NHS faces more challenging winter than normal, health secretary warns

The NHS is facing a more challenging winter than normal, the health secretary has said, after multiple heatwaves led to its busiest summer on record in England.

Yvette Cooper announced £140m funding to boost urgent care capacity as part of an effort to deal with the impact of seasonal illnesses, including flu and norovirus.

The money will go towards 14 schemes across England, including new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and upgrades to emergency departments.

Shadow health secretary Damian Hinds said the government needed to act, but asked it to explain where the money was coming from. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) England said the funding was "just another sticking plaster".

Cooper said: "Winter will be more challenging for our NHS this year, after such a heavy summer.

"That's why we have been preparing early and investing in extra urgent care capacity to help get patients the care they need."

It comes after almost 7.3 million people attended A&E between June and August in England, according to NHS data, the highest ever figure for a summer period.

Health thinktank the King's Fund warned that the service was facing a "twin crisis" going into the winter, with little time between peak periods for staff and the system to recover.

NHS leaders are urging eligible people to get flu vaccinations, with medical director Prof Frankie Swords saying there were "ominous" signs of winter pressure already affecting hospitals.

Swords said earlier this month there were more patients coming to A&E with flu and other respiratory viruses than usual for this time of year.

"And unfortunately, people are still waiting longer than we would like them to," she added.

NHS executive director Emma Rowland said this winter would be tough for the health service, but the investment in urgent care would help more patients get "the right care on the right place, at the right time".

RCN England's executive director Patricia Marquis said the extra money was welcome in the short term but would ultimately provide "just another sticking plaster on a system that is at breaking point".

"The nursing workforce needed to deliver these services goes into winter already running on empty and short of staff," she said.

The waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England rose for the second month in a row, according to the latest data.

An estimated 7.37 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of August, relating to 6.24 million patients.

These were the highest numbers since October 2025, and have raised questions as to whether the NHS will meet the government's target to treat 92% of patients within 18 weeks by 2029.