07 December 2023 , 12:55
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Post-pandemic Christmas parties and festive family gatherings are seeing Winter viruses surge earlier this year.
Flu patients needing hospital treatment have shot up by half in just a week while NHS England has also detected increased spreading of norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). It comes as the recent cold snap has driven families indoors and the work Christmas party season has started in earnest following years when such events were cancelled or reduced in size.
Prof Julian Redhead, NHS England’s director for emergency care, said: "This latest data will come as no surprise to those of us working on the frontline, who are seeing the number of people coming to emergency departments and patients in hospital with viruses like flu, RSV, and norovirus creeping up and continued Covid pressure.
"Demand on hospitals and staff remains high and as we experience more spells of cold weather and people gathering indoors for festive events and end of year celebrations. We expect to see a continued increase in winter viruses spreading in the community and in some cases this will lead to hospital admissions.”
NHS data released on Thursday shows an average of 234 people were in hospital with flu every day last week - up 53% on the week before. The winter vomiting bug norovirus saw hospitalised cases up 15% on the previous week to an average 406 people daily. This is up 28% on the same week last year.
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Each day an average of 92 beds were closed last week due to measures to stop the spread of norovirus through hospitals. RSV cases are also increasing with data showing in the week up to December 3 an average of 146 children were in hospital each day with the virus - up 11% on both last year and the previous week.
Dr Peter Williams, medical director for Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “As with all other hospitals across the country, we are experiencing extremely high demand for our emergency care services and with the recent cold spell there is significant pressure on A&E departments. Infection rates in the local community for illnesses such as diarrhoea and vomiting are on the rise, with winter respiratory viruses including flu and Covid infections also remaining prevalent.”
NHS 111 services indicate surging pressure on the health service, with 358,797 calls answered last week, some 14% more than the same week last year. Bed blocking in large part due to lack of social care continues to clog up hospitals with the number of people taking up beds despite being medically fit for discharge up to 12,883 on average each day. This is an increase from 12,654 the previous week.
NHS staff absences were up by 800 on average each day last week with 47,000 off sick. Dom Hardy, chief Operating Officer at Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Trust, said: “Our emergency department has been seeing unprecedented levels of demand with our records for attendances having been broken multiple times over the past year.”
It comes as pharmacists warn this is the final week people can get a flu jab and expect to be protected from getting the virus over Christmas. George Sandhu, deputy superintendent pharmacist at Well Pharmacy, said: “There’s been so much focus understandably on Covid over the last few years, that flu can be forgotten.
"While it is a relatively mild illness for most people, although deeply unpleasant at the time, some people can become seriously ill and can even be hospitalised with the flu. It takes about two to three weeks for the flu jab to take effect, so if you want to have the best possible chance of not having a ‘Flu Christmas’ this year, you’ll need to grab one this week.”