Hospitals will be told to send far more emergency patients home on the same day, under new NHS plans.

Health officials say one in three emergency admissions will be sent home without an overnight stay, after being given access to on-the-spot tests.

They say patients with conditions as severe as pneumonia could be helped by new services, which will see them assessed, diagnosed, treated and sent home without an overnight stay.

More than six million patients are admitted to hospital every year after attending casualty units - a rise of a fifth in five years.

The measures comes amid deepening pressures on Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments and controversial proposals to scrap the flagship four-hour A&E target.

Last month saw the worst performance against the target in 15 years.

The head of the NHS has said it is likely to be replaced with new measures, with “tougher, faster standards” for the most urgent cases, and longer waits likely for less serious problems, following a review which is due to report within weeks.

The plans for “same day emergency care (SDEC) services" will be tested in pilot schemes this spring, and rolled out to half a million patients at every major A&E across the country, if successful.