Near record flu levels piles more pressure on NHS services

• There were 5,408 patients in hospital with flu on average each day last week, the second highest level since the pandemic;
• On average, there were 742 adult beds closed due to patients in hospital with D&V/norovirus-like symptoms last week, up from 666 the week before;
• Some 53,270 members of staff were absent per day on average last week due to sickness or self-isolation. This is up from 49,844 the week before;
• Some 42.3% of ambulance handover delays took longer than 30 minutes last week, up from 32.2% the week before;
• And 21.3% of handover delays were longer than an hour, up from 13.0%;
• On average, 12,591 beds each day were filled with patients no longer meeting the criteria to reside in hospital last week – up from 10,837;
• There were 2.35 million attendances at A&Es across England in December and 552,592 emergency admissions, making it one of the busiest Decembers on record;
• Category 2 ambulance average response time for December was 47 minutes and 26 seconds against the thirty-minute target for 2023/24. For Category 1 ambulances, the average response time was 8 minutes and 40 seconds in December;
• The total waiting list for procedures and appointments fell to 7.48 million in November, down from 7.54 million in October.  

Responding to the latest NHS performance data and urgent and emergency care situation reports from NHS England Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

“These figures show that the intense pressure on the NHS is continuing to grow, despite health leaders and their teams working hard to care for patients in very difficult circumstances.

“Flu levels in hospitals have risen to their second-highest level since the pandemic. This, combined with other winter viruses and staff sickness, is making what we knew would be a challenging winter even more difficult. In some places we know hospitals have had to declare critical incidents in order to manage rising demand and the increased acuity of patients.

“With the country gripped by a cold snap and experts predicting flu levels will peak in the next week or two, we are concerned that this will continue to pile more pressure onto already over-stretched services. The pressures are being felt across all parts of the system, from hospitals to GP practices and other parts of primary care. 

“While there was a welcome fall in waiting lists, the overall picture is of services facing record demand. A&Es and ambulances had an extremely busy December, with 12-hour waits rising to near record levels as well.

“But while we knew it was going to be a difficult winter it is vital that the NHS does not face another winter like the last few, which have been some of the worst in its history. Our members share the government’s ambitions to reduce waiting lists for routine procedures, but we know we can’t sacrifice improvement in emergency care to fund elective care. They require an equal focus and that’s what NHS leaders will be working towards.”