Flu peak yet to come, top doctor warns as hospitals under pressure

A top NHS doctor has warned the peak of the flu season is yet to come as hospitals wards across England are “full to bursting”.

It comes as several NHS trusts declared critical incidents because of sustained pressure in A&E departments, with people being treated in corridors and a patient at one hospital forced to wait 50 hours to be admitted to a ward.

Some hospitals have restricted visitor numbers while others are encouraging people to wear surgical masks to limit the spread of viruses.

There are about 5,000 patients in hospital with flu in England, according to Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care.

He told the PA news agency: “Wards are now full to bursting and that pressure is feeding back into A&E departments, with patients being treated in environments not usually used for clinical care.

“Most patients would recognise when they’re being treated in a corridor but those aren’t the environments we would want to treat patients in. That is difficult for colleagues and patients who are treated in that environment.”

Prof Redhead added that there is “some evidence” the flu season may be peaking, but warned: “We’ve also got schools going back and that can cause different social mixing.”

He said a peak should be expected in the coming weeks.

“It’s too early to say it’s definitively peaked. I would hope there would be a peak in the next one to two weeks.

“But we’ve also got that cold snap at the moment, which will also put pressure on emergency services.

“We have pressure in emergency care all year round but the winter, with the added pressures of flu and other viruses, really makes that a really stark feeling of pressure.”

Leading nurses said the “prospect of the situation worsening will fill nursing staff with dread” as they called for mandatory reporting of corridor care.

In recent days, hospitals in Northamptonshire, Cornwall, Liverpool, Hampshire, Birmingham, Plymouth and the Wirral have declared critical incidents.

South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust declared a critical incident on Wednesday, with a statement on its website saying attendances at Warwick Hospital’s emergency department in the last week “have been consistently some of the highest” ever experienced.

The NHS in Gloucestershire also declared a critical incident, with a live A&E tracker on the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s website warning patients that the average time spent in the emergency department at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital is 13 hours.

And the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust declared a critical incident on Wednesday, with the trust experiencing “unprecedented demand” for urgent and emergency services this week and a “high number” of flu cases, a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust declared the first critical incident in its history on Monday thanks to a combination of “significant patient demand, pressure within local hospitals and flooding”.

It stood it down on Wednesday morning.

Critical incidents are declared when services are so busy that special measures are needed to restore normal operations and keep patients safe.

Elsewhere, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust requested public support by asking patients to seek medical attention alone where possible, while North Bristol NHS Trust urged the public and staff to wear surgical face masks in its “emergency zone” to reduce the risk of infection.

East Sussex Hospitals Trust announced on Tuesday it was temporarily limiting visitors to one per patient per day to reduce the impact of flu, with certain exemptions in place for the likes of end-of-life care and special baby care.

Last week, NHS data revealed the number of people in hospital with flu in England was more than four times the level it was a month ago, with officials warning cases were “rising at a very concerning rate”.

Data being released later this week is expected to show another rise in the number of people admitted to hospital because of flu.

Prof Redhead said that “in general, most patients coming into hospital are elderly”, but there are also younger patients with chronic conditions such as asthma seeking treatment.

“The flu and cold weather usually affects the elderly and most vulnerable, they are the patients coming into hospitals,” he said.

He added: “In my own experience, it’s generally patients who have not had a vaccine or have underlying conditions which means the vaccine hasn’t provided the underlying protection we would hope.”

Patricia Marquis, executive director for England for the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Nursing staff are doing their best to hold the service together, but their job is nigh-on impossible in an overwhelmed system. Patients are lining corridors up and down the country and top NHS doctors admit care standards are failing.

“The prospect of the situation worsening will fill already exhausted nursing staff with dread.

“Ministers must step in and introduce system-wide reporting of all instances of care in places like corridors so we can fully understand the scale of the crisis hitting the health system.”

On Tuesday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he felt “distressed and ashamed” when he heard about some of the experiences patients are facing in the NHS.

At least one patient at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital was forced to wait for more than two days in A&E.

On Wednesday, Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS is under pressure and flu is 246% higher than last year.

She also said staff across the NHS “are putting in absolutely valiant effort in order to keep patients safe”.

She added: “I think what we need to do is recognise that these are really long-standing challenges that the NHS is facing in terms of workforce, shortage of workforce, the critical need to reform and properly invest in social care, and also to think more about prevention.”

Non-urgent patients have been warned they will face long waits in A&E and have been urged to “consider other options” such as contacting their GP, visiting a pharmacy or calling NHS 111.

However, Ms Cordery urged patients who are suffering a life-threatening emergency still to call 999.

“We don’t want that situation where people are choosing not to call 999 when they really need it,” she said.

Prof Redhead added: “A&Es are open for patients who need us. Though there may be waits, the vital treatment is generally being given in a timely manner.”

He also urged communities to “come together” during the cold snap to ensure the most vulnerable are looked after.