Additional funding confirmed for winter accident and emergency services

NHS England has confirmed that additional funding will be made available to help hospitals maintain their accident and emergency services this winter.

A further 150 million pounds will be drawn from NHS England's expected budget surplus for the current financial year and distributed among local communities, based on the number of people they serve.

This comes in addition to the 250 million pounds announced to support the most at-risk areas of the country in September 2013, with the latest tranche of funding being spread across 157 clinical commissioning groups.

It will help hospitals to cope with the additional pressure on their accident and emergency departments during what is expected to be a particularly harsh winter. It can also be used to enhance other services to help avoid any unnecessary emergency admissions.

The decision has been welcomed by the College of Emergency Medicine, which has predicted that accident and emergency service could be stretched to breaking point this winter.