England’s emergency services are battling their ‘busiest winter ever’ as flu cases continue to soar, health chiefs warned today.
More than 2.3million patients visited A&E in December while ambulance teams tackled over 800,000 incidents — the highest number ever recorded in a single month.
Separate surveillance data that monitors England’s flu outbreak also suggests hospital admissions are up a fifth in a week and quadruple that of a month ago.
Figures show more than 5,400 beds alone were taken up by flu patients every day last week, up 3.5 times on the same week last year.
Of these, 254 were in critical care — up a fifth on the previous week.
Rates of the winter vomiting bug norovirus, meanwhile, are almost 50 per cent higher than expected for this time of year.
England’s top doctor today warned that NHS staff were under ‘intense pressure’ faced with a situation ‘similar to the days at the height of the pandemic’.
The crisis has already led to a dozen hospitals declaring critical incidents meaning they are struggling to provide safe care to patients.
Experts also fear the UK’s ‘dangerous’ cold spell will continue to pile pressure on already stretched hospitals.
Just this week the UK Health Security Agency extended its ‘amber’ cold-health alert, until 12pm Sunday January 12. The previous alert was due to expire yesterday.
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 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.
‘It is hard to quantify just through the data 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.
‘As the incredibly busy winter continues and hospitals clearly experience intense pressure, please do continue to only use 999 and A&E in life-threatening emergencies and use NHS 111 and 111 online for other conditions, as well as using your local GP and pharmacy services in the usual way.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
