{"id":339663,"date":"2025-12-12T04:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T04:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339663\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T04:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T04:20:07","slug":"nhs-bracing-for-worst-ever-winter-crisis-in-next-fortnight-amid-rising-flu-cases-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339663\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS bracing for worst ever winter crisis in next fortnight amid rising flu cases | NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHS<\/a> is bracing for its worst ever winter crisis in the next fortnight because of a worsening \u201cflu-nami\u201d that has left hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services under intense strain.<\/p>\n

Hospitals are already treating record numbers of people seriously ill because of flu for the time of year. But things will get worse in the days ahead, NHS leaders said, as medical bosses urged people to get vaccinated against the virus so they can enjoy Christmas gatherings more safely.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, have launched a coordinated assault on the British Medical Association for its \u201cirresponsible\u201d decision to call thousands of resident doctors in England<\/a> out on strike next week.<\/p>\n

They urged resident \u2013 formerly junior \u2013 doctors to endorse the government\u2019s latest offer to settle the long-running pay and jobs dispute and avoid the NHS having to grapple with a five-day strike due to start next Wednesday that has caused huge alarm in the service.<\/p>\n

Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of NHS England, has already described the strike as \u201ccruel\u201d, \u201ccalculated\u201d and designed to \u201ccause mayhem\u201d given its timing. It may yet be called off, but only if enough resident doctors see an improved offer from Streeting, made on Wednesday, as enough of a reason to do so.<\/p>\n

NHS England data released on Thursday showed an average of 2,660 people a day were being treated in hospital last week as a direct result of flu \u2013 55% up on the 1,717 the week before and enough to fill three NHS trusts. It is the highest number ever seen in the first week of December and included 106 people in intensive care, mostly with difficulty breathing.<\/p>\n

Prof Meghana Pandit, NHS England\u2019s joint medical director, said: \u201cThe number of patients in hospital with flu is extremely high for this time of year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven worse, it continues to rise and the peak is not in sight yet, so the NHS faces an extremely challenging few weeks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) \u2013 which mainly affects babies and elderly people \u2013 and Covid are also causing problems. Those, combined with a mutated and highly virulent strain of flu that is circulating, are threatening to \u201cengulf hospitals\u201d, Pandit added.<\/p>\n

The number of people needing care has put a growing number of hospital trusts under such pressure that they have had to declare a critical incident \u2013 an admission that they cannot cope with demand and need help.<\/p>\n

The UK Health<\/a> Security Agency appealed for people who had not had a flu jab to get one as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Dr Conall Watson, a consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA, said: \u201cThere is still plenty of flu vaccine available to protect those who need it. What\u2019s running out is time to be protected ahead of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency sought to reassure the public that the flu vaccine that is available UK-wide does reduce the risk of flu leaving people seriously unwell.<\/p>\n

It explained that the virus is causing escalating problems because of an unusually early start to the season and \u201ca drifted flu H3N2 strain \u2026 circulating \u2026 meaning less natural immunity in the community\u201d.<\/p>\n

But, it added, its data \u201cshows the vaccine being used this winter is effective at preventing severe disease\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cH3N2 strains typically affect older adults more severely than H1N1 strains, leading to more hospitalisations and deaths, creating pressure on our NHS this winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest UKHSA figures showed worryingly low take-up of the flu vaccine among at-risk groups. Just 37.4% of under-65s who have one or more long-term health conditions had been vaccinated by 7 December.<\/p>\n

Even fewer pregnant women \u2013 only 35.6% \u2013 had done so, as had 41.5% of children aged two or under and 42.3% of three-year-olds.<\/p>\n

However, take-up among the over-65s is much higher, at 71.7%<\/p>\n

Doctors urged the public to do what they can to minimise the risk of getting or spreading flu. Ed Hutchinson, a professor of molecular and cellular virology at Glasgow University, said: \u201cThings like masking, social distancing and working from home can have a large impact on the spread of influenza viruses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shereen Hussein, a professor of health policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, urged people to check on the welfare of older relatives and neighbours and take them to be vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Christmas, safe connection should be the priority [when visiting people]. Short but frequent visits, good ventilation, wearing a mask if you have mild symptoms or have been recently unwell, and using phone or video calls if an in-person visit is not safe,\u201d Hussein added.<\/p>\n

Watson, from the UKHSA, also reiterated its advice that \u201cif you have symptoms and need to go out, you should consider wearing a face covering\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some pharmacies have recently run short of flu vaccine. However, pharmacy groups stressed that they comprised only a few \u201cisolated\u201d cases and that there is plenty of the vaccine available.<\/p>\n

Separate NHS England data also published on Thursday showed that the waiting list of those seeking planned hospital care rose again in October, albeit slightly, to 7.4m treatments, up from 7.39m in September.<\/p>\n

Dr Vicky Price, the president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: \u201cThe latest performance data \u2026 paints a sadly familiar picture of a system under relentless strain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the ongoing \u2018flu-nami\u2019 is being invoked as the primary cause of the crisis, this is a convenient scapegoat when the reality is that the situation is the direct result of a longstanding and predictable breakdown in NHS capacity and workforce shortages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streeting said there was \u201ca tidal wave of flu tearing through our hospitals\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHS is bracing for its worst ever winter crisis in the next fortnight because of a worsening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-339663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}