High winter virus levels keep pressure piled on NHS

• A total of 1,432 adult beds on average were closed due to patients in hospital with Norovirus-like symptoms last week. This is down from 1,442 the previous week but nearly three times higher than the 573 reported the same week last year.
• There was an average of 1,656 patients in hospital with flu each day last week , down from 1,755 the week before;
• The number of beds each day filled with patients no longer meeting the criteria to reside in hospital fell to 13,017 last week, down from 13,767;
• Some 32.4% of ambulance handover delays took longer than 30 minutes last week, up from 29.1% the previous week;
• And 12.2% of handover delays were longer than an hour compared to 9.6% the previous week.

Responding to the latest NHS England urgent and emergency care situation reports Rory Deighton, acute director of the NHS Confederation, said:

“Pressure continues to be felt across the urgent and emergency care system. Though Norovirus and flu levels have fallen there are still high numbers of beds taken up by patients with these illnesses and bed occupancy in hospitals is still above safe levels.

“There has been a very welcome drop in the number of patients stuck in hospitals when medically fit enough to leave. Our members report that these delays are often due to a lack of community and social care provision. These can cause bottlenecks in hospitals, with patients facing long waits in A&Es for ward beds or long ambulance handover delays.

“NHS leaders and their teams continue to work incredibly hard to provide the care people need and keep patients safe. The upcoming urgent and emergency care plan is great opportunity to begin to address some of the challenges that have led to a series of very tough winters. We need to make sure we do not experience another winter where we have exhausted and stressed staff having to deliver patient care in unsuitable settings such as corridors again. This kind of care was unthinkable a decade ago but has sadly become normalised following the combination of rising demand and years of underinvestment.

“We look forward to working with the government and NHS England on the ten-year health plan and social care reform to address the problems of patient flow. We hope the plan will take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS and make better use of urgent care pathways that avoid emergency departments, ensuring that patient experiences of urgent and emergency care services improve ahead of next winter.”