Revealed: Mutant flu hotspots as hospitals declare ‘critical incidents’ amid 10 per cent rise in severe cases
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust is the latest trust to declare a critical incident in England amid a ‘surge’ in flu, norovirus and respiratory cases amid rising staff illnesses.
The trust said up to 550 patients were seeking care from A&E at Queen’s Medical Center every day, despite its upper capacity being 350 patients per 24 hours.
A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Wye Valley NHS Trust told the Daily Mail they had also declared critical cases.
The Midlands foundation joins four other foundations, three in Surrey and one in Kent. The alarm went off after A&E departments experienced ‘extraordinarily high demand’.
A critical incident, usually declared when the level of disruption means that A&E departments can no longer safely provide critical services and patients may be harmed, is the highest alert level used by the NHS.
Andrew Hall, the charity’s chief operating officer, said: ‘We are experiencing pressure like never before. Despite the tireless work of our teams, the demand on our hospitals far exceeds our capacity.
‘Declaring a critical incident is not a decision we take lightly, but it is necessary to protect patient safety.’
It comes as leading doctors warned last week that “the worst is far from over” as cases of flu and other winter viruses began to rise after two weeks of falling figures.
Total bed occupancy last week was around 92 percent; More than 2,940 beds in England alone were filled by flu patients, but now the cold weather (along with more injuries from slips and falls) has pushed some trusts to full capacity.
That’s why the Nottingham-based trust will continue to ‘see the sickest patients first’.
This means patients who attend the emergency department for non-urgent issues will ‘face extremely long waits and be referred to other services instead’.
The incident at Surrey trusts (Royal Surrey NHS Foundation trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS trust and Surrey and Sussex healthcare NHS trust) is said to have been ‘made worse by an increase in cases of flu and norovirus and an increase in staff illnesses’.
NHS Surrey Heartlands added: ‘The recent cold weather has also affected weaker patients requiring hospitalisation.’
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation trust also announced a ‘critical incident’ at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate due to ‘continued pressures and increasing demand for hospital care’.
He said hospitals were experiencing ‘extraordinarily high demand due to the continuing high admission rate and large numbers of patients with winter illnesses and respiratory viruses’.
NHS Surrey Heartlands joint chief medical officer Dr. Charlotte Canniff told the BBC that declaring a critical incident meant trusts could take additional steps to ‘focus on critical services’.
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust also announced a ‘critical incident’ at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate due to ‘sustained pressures’ (pictured)
He said: ‘Unfortunately this means local organizations may need to reschedule some non-urgent operations, treatments and outpatient appointments to accommodate patients with the most urgent clinical needs.
‘People should attend appointments as long as they are not contacted; Our cancer and other most urgent operations continue to be prioritized.’
Critical incidents have also been reported in Birmingham, Staffordshire and both parts of Wales in recent days.
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in south-east Wales has reported ‘continued pressure’ on its services following a ‘significant increase in norovirus cases across Gwent’.
Last week, University Hospitals of the North Midlands NHS Trust in Staffordshire, University Hospitals of Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales all reported exceptionally high demand.
The problematic mutant h3NS flu strain is believed to be causing the rise in flu cases, which rose nine per cent last week on the latest figures.
The disease, called subclade K or ‘super flu’, mutated several times over the summer, helping to evade previous immunity, and is thought to affect the elderly and vulnerable more heavily.
Despite numbers starting to fall before Christmas, experts believe festive gatherings could cause a ‘return’ in the spread of winter viruses.
Last week, the national health service revealed that the number of people hospitalized with flu averaged 2,942 each day for the week, a nine per cent increase on previous figures.
The flu also led to high levels of hospital staff absenteeism; This number rose to over 1,100 in a week before Christmas.
The rise in cases comes as the Healthcare Safety Investigation Board (HSSIB) warns that corridor care is becoming increasingly common in hospitals across the country, putting patients at increased risk of infection.
Safety risks highlighted by the watchdog included difficulty monitoring patients, increased risk of infection, lack of oxygen and inadequate staffing.
President of the Acute Medicine Association, Dr. Vicky Price expressed her concern, saying there were “people dying as a direct result of the situation”.
But a spokesman for HSSIB said: ‘We must recognize that until a solution is found to the complex underlying issues around patient flow, hospitals may be left with no choice but to use respite care settings.’
