Flu cases rise as pressure mounts on NHS hospitals
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The number of people in hospital with flu in England continues to rise, with staff reporting they are under the same pressure as at the height of the Covid pandemic, the NHS medical director has said. Data from NHS England shows there were an average of 5,408 flu patients in beds in England each day last week, including 256 in critical care.
This is up 21% from 4,469 the previous week, when 211 were in critical care. It is also nearly five times the number on December 1, when the total stood at 1,098. Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said it was hard to quantify “how tough it is for frontline staff at the moment – with some staff working in A&E saying that their days at work feel like some of the days we had during the height of the pandemic”.
It comes after around 20 NHS trusts across England declared critical incidents and said their services are experiencing very high demand. Declaring a critical incident allows hospitals to seek help from other local health systems so all capacity is used, concentrate care where it is most needed and ask some staff to come back from annual leave to work.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “It is clear that hospitals are under exceptional pressure at the start of this new year, with mammoth demand stemming from this ongoing cold weather snap and respiratory viruses like flu – all on the back of 2024 being the busiest year on record for A&E and ambulance teams.
“I never fail to be impressed by the remarkable job that NHS staff across a range of services (are doing) in the face of current challenges, remaining compassionate, professional and doing everything they can to see patients as quickly as possible while often working in hospitals that are full to bursting.
