The NHS in England is continuing to struggle under the weight of a sudden and rapid epidemic of influenza, with one of its national directors for emergency care, Professor Julian Redhead, warning that the rise in cases is causing “bursting” hospitals and troubling A&E departments. This comes alongside the pressures caused by Covid-19 and the Norovirus. The current numbers of flu patients are more than three times those recorded at this time last year, a rise that has caused around 20 trusts to announce critical incidents. Last week, the average daily number of patients admitted to hospital in England with flu passed 5,400, 1,000 higher than the previous week.
Cordery, a representative of NHS Providers, the professional association for health managers, has said that this, alongside flooding and poor weather, has made for a precarious and “brutal” start to the year, leading to concerns over patients waiting for longer periods in A&E. Cordery has also warned that the problems may persist for some time. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland has similarly reported that hospitals are gridlocked.
The difficulties for patients are illustrated by the experiences of people such as Liz Shearer, who complained that her mother recently spent over 30 hours on a hospital trolley in a corridor. Another patient, Yvonne Wolstenholme, complained of 13 hours in A&E, describing staff as “snowed under”. The latest data shows that only 71% of A&E patients are seen and treated/admitted within the target time of four hours, while ambulance response times are also missing targets.
However, the figures also indicate that routine treatments are meeting targets, with the waiting list for operations dropping, from over 7.54 million in October to 7.48 million in November. Nevertheless, Dr Tim Cooksley from the Society for Acute Medicine has warned that this year’s flu epidemic has revealed a lack of capacity in the NHS that cannot be attributed to circumstances, but to a fundamental lack of resources and planning.
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