Four times more people hospitalised with flu this year as NHS warns hospitals are 'busier than ever'

5 December 2024, 11:40

Four times more people have been hospitalised with flu in England this year as the NHS has warned that hospitals are "busier than ever".

Health leaders warned that the NHS is facing a "quad-demic" of disease going into winter amid rising cases of flu, Covid-19, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

It comes as a record number of people are occupying hospital beds for this time of year due to a variety of illness and injury.

An average of 96,587 hospital beds in England were occupied each day last week - more than have been recorded at this point in any other year.

People who are eligible for a free flu jab have been urged to take up the offer "as soon as possible" as hospital admissions for flu rose to a three-year high for this time of year.

An average of 1,099 flu patients were in hospital beds each day last week, including 39 in critical care, new figures for the NHS in England revealed.

It marks a sharp increase on figures from the same week in 2023, when the total was 243 with nine in critical care.

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Meanwhile, figures showed that there were an average of 756 patients with norovirus in hospital beds each day last week, 1,390 patients with Covid and 142 children in hospital each day with RSV.

And the service is expected to get busier in the coming months.

The figures have been published by the NHS as part of its first weekly snapshot of the performance of hospitals in England this winter.

NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: "The NHS is busier than it has ever been before heading into winter, with flu and norovirus numbers in hospital rising sharply - and we are still only at the start of December, so we expect pressure to increase and there is a long winter ahead of us.

"For a while there have been warnings of a 'tripledemic' of Covid, flu and RSV this winter, but with rising cases of norovirus this could fast become a 'quad-demic', so it's important that if you haven't had your Covid or flu jab to follow the lead of millions of others and come forward and get protected as soon as possible.

"Ambulances are also facing huge demand, with thousands of extra patients and other pressures having an impact on handover delays, which is why our robust plans, including services like urgent treatment centres and same-day emergency care, are so important this winter.

"As always, the public have an important part to play in helping NHS staff over winter by, as ever, calling 999 in an emergency and using the NHS 111 service through the NHS App, online or phone, for advice on how to access the right support for non-emergency health needs."

Commenting on the figures, Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said: "Services are already feeling the strain from a worrying spike in nasty winter bugs and bad weather.

"Flu, norovirus, RSV and Covid-19 are piling the pressure on already stretched services and staff, and this is likely to get worse as we head into the depths of winter.

"Delayed discharges also continue to be a worry for trust leaders, with nearly 12,000 patients stuck in hospital when they don't need to be, with social care and community services also under relentless pressure.

"High bed occupancy compared to this time last year is also adding to the strain."

NHS staff have also been urged to take up the offer of a free flu jab as figures show that uptake among staff is lower than in recent years.

Meanwhile, new figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show tuberculosis (TB) levels in England increased by 11% last year.

There were 4,855 notifications of the disease in 2023, up from 4,380 in 2022.