NHS hospitals have been ordered to hand over swathes of operations to the private sector to ease a looming winter crisis, according to leaked memos.

Health officials have also instructed hospitals to discharge thousands of patients in a bid to reduce record levels of crowding, while managers have been banned from declaring “black alerts”.

NHS trusts have been told to take a series of measures to dramatically reduce bed occupancy levels in an attempt to ensure that wards can cope as pressures mount.

Patients groups said the situation was “frightening”, while charities described the measures as an “extremely worrying” reflection of a system under “extraordinary pressure”.