Flu is stretching the NHS thin - but it’s not the only winter crisis brewing

A severe flu season has seen flu cases in NHS hospitals jump 55 per cent in a week.

Combined with soaring seasonal illnesses, staff sickness, and impending bank holidays, our pharmacies, GPs, and NHS are all under immense pressure.

But there’s another symptom of the season that’s become a growing challenge in recent years and could be largely avoided if people were awake to it.

Urgent repeat prescription requests are enquiries made to NHS 111 when a patient has struggled to get their medication in time, usually because they’ve been unable to get a GP appointment or simply forgotten to order it in time.

This year, the NHS received an average of 135,000 requests a month, accounting for around one in five of the enquiries made to the NHS 111 online service.

Its popularity has grown in recent times, up from one in 15 just three years ago, as healthcare pathways have increasingly moved online.

Every winter, this demand for emergency prescriptions spikes, averaging 49 per cent higher in December than the rest of the year.

Based on this trend, we can reasonably assume that the service could be hit by 200,000 requests this December, for the first time in history.

Much of this pressure stems from the realities of the festive period. GP surgeries and community pharmacies operate with reduced hours, and bank holidays cluster together. Families are travelling, juggling childcare or dealing with illness at home.

Amid all of this, it only takes a few forgotten days for someone to run out of vital medication – and December leaves little margin for error.

This winter’s intense flu wave is adding further strain, as pharmacies support more unwell patients while also coping with staff absences, leaving the system stretched thin.

Millions of people depend on regular medication for conditions such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, diabetes and Parkinson’s. Missing even a few doses can cause serious complications, and these emergencies are colliding with a time when services are already overloaded.

One of the simplest ways families can alleviate this crisis is by ordering repeat prescriptions online in good time and, if possible, getting them delivered directly to their door.

For many patients, the barrier isn’t forgetting, but the practical challenge of getting to a GP or pharmacy during opening hours. A recent Ipsos poll found seven in 10 Brits had no confidence that they could access a GP appointment at a convenient time.

Planning ahead by ordering 7 to 10 days before medication runs out, setting reminders, and using online services with home delivery can significantly ease pressure on both patients and the wider NHS. These small steps matter, particularly in a season when every part of the healthcare system is under strain.

Getting a hold of your prescription is one thing; getting hold of the medicine itself is another.

Our research has shown that 37 per cent of patients on repeat prescriptions faced delays obtaining medication in the past year.

Many people don’t realise you can get your medicine delivered to your door, for free, in just 48 hours. Ordering online also has the benefit of offering far greater medicine availability.

As the UK’s largest online pharmacy, we maintain 98% stock availability, and this year became the first online-only pharmacy to allow patients to check prescription medicine availability online.

All of this comes into sharper focus in winter, giving people greater control at a time when doing regular things is just that bit harder.

This winter will continue to test the resilience of pharmacies and patients alike.

But with a bit of preparation, and by using the options available, we can all help our neighbours get the medication they need by planning ahead.

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Phil Day is Superintendent Pharmacist at Pharmacy2U.

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