Multiple hospitals across England have declared critical incidents following a surge in flu and other respiratory illnesses.
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust declared a critical incident at its Basingstoke and Winchester Hospitals due to “sustained pressures” amid a quadrupling of hospital flu cases across England in just a month.
Critical incidents have also been issued by University Hospitals Plymouth at Derriford Hospital, and by Royal Liverpool Hospital, where it was reported patients were facing waits of up to 50 hours at A&E.
Several other NHS trusts including East Kent Hospitals, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals said their emergency departments were extremely busy and urged people to stay away.
Two ambulance services have also come under extreme pressure, with East Midlands Ambulance Service declaring a critical incident due to the combined pressures of winter flu and flooding.
Latest NHS data shows the number of flu cases has soared, with more than 5,000 people arriving in hospital with the virus at the end of last week. The number of cases in hospital has quadrupled from 29 November to 29 December, the NHS said.
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Chief nurse for Hampshires Hospitals Julie Dawes said winter flu has put significant pressure on the trust’s hospitals.
“This year has seen an unusually high level of winter viruses with a significant number of patients presenting with respiratory issues,” she said.
Ms Dawes advised people to only attend emergency if acutely unwell or injured.
University Hospitals Plymouth Trust also declared a critical incident after more than 300 people went to Derriford Hospital’s emergency department on Monday and nearly 200 of those cases were admitted for inpatient care.
“We are particularly seeing high numbers of older patients with respiratory problems exacerbated by the cold weather,” the Trust said.
A critical incident is declared after a hospital temporarily or permanently loses the ability to deliver critical services or where patients have been harmed – requiring support from other agencies, according to NHS England.
Royal Liverpool Hospital declared a critical incident due to “exceptionally high demand” over patients being admitted to emergency services wards.
A University Hospitals of Liverpool Group spokesperson said: “We have seen an increasing number of people with flu and respiratory illnesses in our emergency departments in recent weeks.
“Given the exceptionally high demands on our Emergency Department, especially with flu and respiratory illnesses, and the number of patients, we have taken this action to support the safe care and treatment of our patients, which is our absolute priority.”
Even more NHS trusts said their emergency departments urged people to stay away unless they needed urgent care so the hospitals could cope with their increased workload.
“Our hospitals are extremely busy today and you will wait longer than usual if you come to our Emergency Department,” Royal Devon Trust trust said.
“Please only use our EDs for immediately life-threatening illnesses and injuries.”
United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said with active flood warnings and alerts in the region, people should avoid travel if possible and only go to emergency in life-threatening circumstances.
East Midlands Ambulance Service declared a critical incident on Monday evening for the first time ever as the winter flu surge and flooding across the area combined to put unprecedented pressure on its services.
South Western Ambulance Service is also under pressure and urged people to “think carefully” before calling 999 so ambulances could be used to help those most in need.
In December, nurses warned there was “barely a spare bed in the NHS” and that staff and patients were“desperately worried” about the winter months amid increasing flu cases.
Health leaders also warned that the service was facing a “quad-demic” of disease going into winter amid rising cases of flu, Covid-19, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
An average of 1,099 flu patients were in beds in England each day at the end of November, including 39 in critical care – the highest recorded at this time for three years.
Over the same week in 2023 the total was 243, with nine in critical care. At this point in 2022 an average of 772 flu patients were in hospital.
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