MailOnline’s latest NHS data tracker lets you see exactly how your hospital is faring amid the ‘quaddemic’.
Emergency rooms and units are “full to bursting” due to the “relentless” pressure of an avalanche of patients infected with flu, Covid, norovirus and RSV.
Creaking at the seams in one of the harshest winters in NHS history, trusts fighting crises on all fronts have declared critical incidents and warned patients they risk being turned away unless they are really sick. Others have reintroduced face masks and restricted visitors to tackle the “wave” of infections.
In addition to cademia, cases of human metapneumovirus (hMPV), another respiratory virus that causes cold-like symptoms, are increasing in the UK.
Hospitals in China have reportedly been overwhelmed by a sudden surge in the disease, but Beijing has played down the growing fears that have dominated headlines in the United Kingdom and the United States. Experts have called on Chinese authorities, who initially downplayed the Covid threat, to be more transparent about the viral outbreak.
Even before this year’s winter massacre occurred, NHS sites were struggling to hit key A&E and cancer targets. Waiting lists had skyrocketed to all-time highs as a result of the pandemic.
Within the framework of the Government’s plans to address the accumulated delays, Ministers have promised to send millions more NHS patients privately.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has threatened to name and shame hospitals that fail the rankings and sack NHS managers if they fail to make improvements as part of Labor reforms.
Our postcode lookup tool, hailed by NHS bosses, uses centrally collected monthly performance figures. It covers all 120+ NHS trusts.
It reveals the proportion of patients being seen within four hours in overwhelmed A&E units, as well as how their confidence compares to the overall England average. Results against three crucial cancer targets are also exposed, as are delays in routine procedures such as hip and knee replacements.
Under health service rules, all patients who need treatment have the right to be seen within 18 weeks.
However, by October, almost three in five patients had been included in routine procedures at the country’s worst performing trust.
When it comes to A&E, less than half of patients attending major A&E units were seen within four hours (the NHS target) in dozens of trusts.
Ambulance response times, which are tracked regionally rather than trust by trust, are also charted by MailOnline’s data journalism team.
Experts believe crises in both A&E and routine surgeries are being exacerbated by so-called “bed blockers,” who are medically fit to be discharged but have nowhere to go.
More than 12,000 hospital beds each day are occupied by patients who no longer have a medical need to stay but cannot leave. The enormous scale of the crisis – equivalent to closing 26 entire hospitals – is forcing administrators to cancel operations and causing ambulance delays as there are too few beds for new admissions.
Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, praised the extraordinary level of detail it contains for readers.
He said: ‘MailOnline’s NHS Tracker is an important tool where patients in England can access data about their local hospital at the touch of a button.
‘The NHS has never been busier heading into winter.
‘Staff are working incredibly hard to manage the current pressures with plans already in place to manage additional demand for services and, through our new elective care reform plan, we will improve waiting times for patients.
‘We continue to work with the government on the 10-year health plan to make the NHS fit for the future.
“We welcome ideas from the public, patients and staff as part of the biggest conversation about the NHS through Change.nhs.uk.”
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Plymouth declared critical incidents today, while the panic button was pressed at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital last night. NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly raised the alarm last week.
Critical incidents can be declared when health and care services are so busy that special measures are needed to restore normal functioning and keep patients safe.
Bosses at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust warned that “non-life-threatening conditions will lead to long waits”, adding: “Beds in both hospitals are full and attendance at our emergency departments is extremely high, which It means there is currently no capacity to admit any more patients who need our care.’
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust claimed the unsustainable pressures it was facing were “exacerbated by the cold weather”.
A spokesperson said: “Our emergency department is currently very full and if you do not have an emergency or life-threatening condition, you may be redirected to other healthcare services.”
Meanwhile, Royal Bolton Hospital has reintroduced face masks in patient areas to prevent the spread of viruses and infections.
Announcing the move, a spokesperson added: ‘We ask for your help to stop the spread of the flu and other winter illnesses by wearing a mask when entering patient areas of our hospital, such as wards.
“We will keep this temporary measure under review until the peak of flu infections subsides in the coming weeks.”
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs four hospitals in Sussex, has also urged patients and frontline staff to cover up once again.
Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said flu in particular was “the final straw”.
He said: “This flu season is not an outlier, but the problem is that our emergency care system is so overwhelmed and fragile that a normal flu season, which is what we have right now, is creating serious operational difficulties .
‘And it would be a mistake to think that this is solely due to winter viruses. We have been chronically overloaded and overwhelmed for several years.
“It’s a major flu outbreak, but the problem is there’s just no capacity to deal with it. So it’s really the final straw.”
How our NHS data tracker works
All MailOnline tracker data comes from NHS England, which publishes monthly performance statistics.
The health targets have been derived from official NHS guidelines.
We have matched NHS trusts to postcodes based on distance, showing trusts within a 15 mile radius for outer London and a 3 mile radius for inner London. Private providers and some community trusts have been excluded.
Entering your postcode into the search bar sorts you in alphabetical order of trusts that are within your area, not necessarily your nearest trust.
Given the way NHS data is stored, only ‘Type 1’ attendances, or visits to your typical A&E centre, are used for the four-hour wait analysis.
For 12-hour waits, all types of emergencies are counted, including type 2 or specialized emergency rooms.
Ambulance response times are recorded by region. We have aligned each individual trust with their regional ambulance service.