London, Europe Brief News – The number of people in hospital with flu has shot up by two thirds in one week, NHS England data shows.
“Near record” demand for NHS 111 services, thought to be partly driven by parents’ concern about Strep A, has contributed to the pressures heaped on the NHS.
An average of 1,939 people with flu were in England hospital each day last week, up 67% on the 1,162 the previous week.
By comparison, the daily average at the end of November was 482.
In the week before ambulance workers went on strike, ambulance handover delays hit a new high, as one in four patients were waiting more than an hour to be handed to A&E teams. NHS trusts have a target of 100% of patients being handed over within 60 minutes, and 95% in the first 30 minutes.
Four in 10 patients had to wait at least 30 minutes to be transferred to A&E. The numbers are higher than at any point in recent winters.
There has also been a surge in people with flu requiring intensive care, with the number of flu patients in critical care beds up 72% in a week.
Calls to NHS 111 last week were up almost 60% from the equivalent week in 2021, and increased to 721,301 last week from 706,129 the week before.
The rise in demand is understood to be partly due to parents worried about symptoms of Strep A.
