NHS remains under pressure despite slight drop in flu levels

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

“The slight fall in flu cases is welcome given the very early and very rapid spike at the start of the month. However, this does not mean that pressure on the NHS is easing. Services are still seeing high levels of demand due to seasonal viruses and bed occupancy is around 95%, which is well above safe levels.

“There are also thousands of patients stuck in hospital beds despite being medically well enough to go home, in part due to a lack of community and social care. This can create bottlenecks in hospitals, leaving ambulances unable to handover their patients to A&E promptly, emergency departments struggling to find ward beds for patients and having to rely on caring for their patients in corridors and other inappropriate settings, and non-urgent inpatient care then being disrupted.

“To manage growing demand NHS leaders are continuing to set up viable alternatives to emergency care for some patients – including extended access to GPs, urgent treatment centres, walk-in centres, and support in the community for falls and frailty. 

“We do not know when flu levels will peak and with the busiest weeks of winter still ahead of us, the NHS is working incredibly hard to ensure patients remain safe in the face of high demand, increasing staff sickness and the continued impact of industrial action.”