Flu Patient Numbers Fall in NHS Hospitals Across England
For the week ending 28 December, the average number of flu patients in hospital per day fell to 2,676, a 13% decrease from 3,061 the previous week. This is considerably lower than last winter's peak of 5,408 flu patients. Despite the overall decline, there was an increase in patients requiring critical care, with 128 flu patients in critical care beds last week, up from 117 the previous week.
The UK Health Security Agency issued amber and yellow cold health alerts for England as temperatures fell below freezing. NHS national medical director Meghana Pandit attributed the drop partly to increased vaccination efforts, noting that more than 500,000 additional people have been vaccinated against flu compared to the same period last year.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting reported that hospital bed occupancy is lower than last year and ambulance handover performance is improving. He urged the public to get vaccinated and to use A&E services only for emergencies.
Additionally, an average of 284 hospital beds were filled daily with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms last week, slightly down from 285 the previous week and from 427 two weeks ago. Ambulance handover times have improved, with 18% of patients arriving by ambulance waiting at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E, down from 22%, marking the lowest figure this winter. Furthermore, only 4% of ambulance handovers (equivalent to 3,359 patients) were delayed by more than an hour, also the lowest this winter.
