Flu peak yet to come, top doctor warns as hospitals under pressure
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A top NHS doctor has warned the peak of the flu season is yet to come as hospitals in England grapple with high demand. It comes as several NHS trusts declared critical incidents because of sustained pressure in A&E departments, with people being treated in corridors and a patient at one hospital forced to wait 50 hours to be admitted to a ward.
Some hospitals have restricted visitor numbers while others are encouraging people to wear surgical masks to limit the spread of viruses. There are about 5,000 patients in hospital with flu in England, according to Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care.
He told the PA news agency: “Wards are now full to bursting and that pressure is feeding back into A&E departments, with patients being treated in environments not usually used for clinical care. “Most patients would recognise when they’re being treated in a corridor but those aren’t the environments we would want to treat patients in. That is difficult for colleagues and patients who are treated in that environment.”.
Prof Redhead added that there is “some evidence” the flu season may be peaking, but warned: “We’ve also got schools going back and that can cause different social mixing.”. He said a peak should be expected in the coming weeks. “It’s too early to say it’s definitively peaked. I would hope there would be a peak in the next one to two weeks.
