British hospitals are reeling as the number of patients fighting serious winter viruses rises; High-level doctors describe it as “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The crisis, fueled by the flu but exacerbated by norovirus, RSV and Covid diseases, has already led a dozen hospitals to declare critical incidents, meaning they are struggling to provide safe care to patients.
But official data, analyzed by MailOnline and compiled into a search tool, shows that some NHS hospitals are faring worse than others.
Nationally, around one in 20 NHS beds in England are occupied by patients affected by one of the “quadramic” viruses.
However, this website can reveal this rises to almost one in five beds in some of the worst affected trusts.
The latest NHS data, up to December 29, suggests that 19 per cent of the East Cheshire NHS Trust’s approximately 550 beds were occupied by a patient suffering from quadruple virus.
This figure, which includes beds or “locked down” as part of quarantine measures to prevent highly contagious infections such as norovirus, the winter vomiting virus, from spreading from patient to patient, was the highest in the country.
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London came second and third respectively, recording 11 and 10 per cent of their beds occupied by people infected with winter illnesses.
By pathogen, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust recorded the highest proportion of general admission beds occupied by flu patients, at seven per cent (112 beds).
This was followed by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust with six per cent and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust with five per cent.
East Cheshire had the highest proportion of beds with someone affected by norovirus, the winter vomiting bug, with seven per cent occupied by a patient or “locked down” as part of internal quarantine measures.
This is more than double the proportion compared to the next worst affected trusts, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and the aforementioned Bolton, which recorded three per cent of beds occupied by such patients.
Norovirus, which can cause extreme vomiting and diarrhea, can usually be treated at home for most patients, but vulnerable people, such as young children and the elderly, may require hospital care.
East Cheshire, Royal Cornwall and Bolton also recorded the highest proportion of beds occupied by RSV patients across NHS England, with 7 per cent for East Cheshire and 3 per cent each for Royal Cornwall and Bolton.
RSV, short for respiratory syncytial virus, is a common winter virus that causes coughs and colds for most people, but can be dangerous for very young children.
Bolton was one of several trusts to introduce mask requirements at its facilities this week in a bid to curb the spread of viruses on its wards.
Covid, although nowhere near the levels seen at the height of the pandemic, continues to strain NHS resources, particularly in London.
Three trusts in the capital, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust recorded between two and three per cent of beds occupied by Covid patients needing hospital care.
Nationally, about one in 20 of the NHS’s roughly 100,000 beds were occupied by someone suffering from a winter bug.
While they remain a minority, others are affected by accidents, health emergencies such as strokes and patients recovering from surgery, senior doctors have warned for years that the NHS lacks the overall capacity to cope even to small waves of illness.
For patients, this can lead to agonizing days of waiting in the emergency room or being subjected to inhumane “hall care” due to a lack of beds.
NHS ‘beds’ are not just the physical furniture, they are also a measure of the number of staff available to care for patients in them, meaning the number available can vary slightly from day to day.
Health service data shows that more than nine in 10 of all NHS beds were occupied by a patient as of December 29.
Several hospital chiefs have cited a rise in emergency admissions for respiratory infections such as flu as part of their reasons for declaring a critical incident.
Several NHS hospitals have declared “critical incidents” as the health service continues to be hit by flu admissions amid an ongoing “quadraemia” of winter viruses.
Speaking yesterday, NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis warned that demand in hospitals “shows no signs of abating”.
“The latest data shows flu cases soared to around 5,000 a day in hospitals at the end of last year and multiple trusts across the country declared incidents to help them manage the additional pressure on services,” he said.
“As well as flu, hospitals are also experiencing continued pressure from Covid, RSV and norovirus cases, as the ‘quadraemia’ continues to increase pressure on all services.”
Other hospitals, while not declaring critical incidents, have warned that they are extremely busy and some are even going so far as to restrict visitors from seeing patients, in an echo of some of the darkest days of the Covid pandemic.
It is also feared that the situation will worsen further in the coming days.
The bed data represents the situation the NHS was facing before a cold snap hit the UK.
Speaking before the mercury fell, health chiefs said they feared the “extreme” and “dangerous” cold snap would increase pressure on hospitals already stretched to breaking point.
This same week, the UK Health Security Agency extended its “amber” health alert for colds until 12pm on Sunday 12 January. The previous alert was due to expire today (WED).
Snow in Allenheads, Northumberland, photographed on Thursday morning. Speaking before the mercury fell, health chiefs said they feared the “extreme” and “dangerous” cold snap would increase pressure on hospitals already stretched to breaking point.
Cold temperatures often cause increasing numbers of vulnerable people to become seriously ill with winter pathogens, like Florida.
This is due to several factors, such as the body weakening by trying to stay warm, viruses can replicate more easily in the cold air we breathe, and the pathogens themselves are transmitted more easily the longer people spend time in the cold air. indoors.
UKHSA itself has warned that the weather would likely cause “significant impacts on health and social services”, including an “increase in deaths, particularly among people aged 65 and over or with health problems”.
Infectious disease experts have also warned that the situation could worsen sooner, as people who became infected while socializing indoors over Christmas and New Year become ill or their condition worsens and requires NHS care.
There are also concerns that another virus, human metapneumovirus (hMPV), could put even more pressure on the health service in the coming weeks.
Official data shows One in 10 children tested for respiratory infections in the hospital tested positive for hMPV as of December 23.
This is more than double the proportion of very young children who tested positive for the virus at the end of November.
While hMPV primarily causes mild illness similar to the common cold, very young children, along with the elderly and those with weakened immune systems such as cancer patients, are at increased risk of severe illness.
Concerns emerged after distressing images of Chinese hospitals inundated with hMPV patients.
However, UK officials say levels in Britain are currently what would be expected for this time of year.
Despite mounting pressures, the latest official data shows that just under one in four frontline healthcare workers in England have had the flu vaccine this year.
The Government report found that, overall, only 24.3 per cent of staff responsible for direct patient care have been vaccinated against influenza.
Analysis of the data showed that vaccination rates are lower across all staff groups, including NHS hospital staff, paramedics and GPs, this year than in the 2023 season.