How to tell if you've got 'real flu' as top GP names symptoms that wipe people out
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A top GP has explained exactly how to tell if you’ve been struck down with flu as multiple hospitals declare critical incidents while the illness sweeps through the nation. It comes after shocking NHS figures revealed cases of the flu had skyrocketed by 300% in the last month, with hundreds of hospital beds being taken up across the country and poorly patients being turned away from A&E departments. Health service chiefs warn the UK could be seeing the worst ever winter flu season, as cases of the illness are already far higher than figures reported last year.
According to one top GP, "the concern is that it’s rising and we don’t know where it’s going to stop". Bolton GP Dr Helen Wall explained: "In the first week of December, we saw a 360% rise in hospital admissions for flu compared to last year. That’s a huge increase.
“We always see a spike in winter, so we expect that. But we’ve had much higher rates, and much earlier on in the year. If that had continued alongside RSV, Covid, and norovirus, we’d be in a really difficult place. We are in a pressured place, but Covid and RSV have tailed off. Flu is still causing us problems though.".
An average of 4,469 patients were in England's hospitals with flu in the week ending Sunday December 29, according to the latest official figures. That's five-times as many cases as the same time last year when there were an average of 942 in hospital with flu, and is more than double the average at the same time in 2022 when there were 2,088 flu patients in hospital.
