During a visit to Sutton Health and Care Reablement Unit in South London, Pritchard highlighted cancer vaccines and crisis mental health support as examples of new innovations introduced by the NHS over the past year and praised staff at the centre for creating a new wrap-around service to ensure patients leaving hospital have the support they need to live independently.

‘This service is a great example of how the NHS is constantly innovating – how our staff are always striving to modernise care, support more people in the community and deliver better value for money,' Pritchard said.

‘We've seen loads of other innovations this year from trialling cancer vaccines on the NHS, to the new 111 service for crisis mental health support, or providing greater patient convenience through the NHS App.

‘So, thank you to every colleague in the NHS for working tirelessly – not just over the holidays, but all year round, to do the best we possibly can for patients.'