Flu and Covid cases adding pressure to Blackpool Victoria Hospital as Trust pleads with visitors to wear masks

Although there is always a seasonal increase in flu over winter, NHS in England says hospitals across the country are under more pressure than usual, with record waiting lists, extended ambulance delays and rocketing flu patient numbers.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made addressing the strain on the NHS one of his five pledges in his first major speech of 2023.

The Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says flu figures seem to be coming down, but because of concerns over both flu and Covid cases, the Trust is asking visitors to wear masks, just like the days of the Covid pandemic.

NHS England reports that flu alone has impacted on Blackpool Vic and released some of the latest stats available.

Latest official flu patient figures for Blackpool Vic

The latest NHS England figures show there were 88 flu patients being treated by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as of January 1 – up from 66 the week before.

Of them, 85 were in general and acute wards, while a further three were patients in critical care.

It represents an increase from the start of the winter – no flu patients were being cared for at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust on November 14, the earliest available figures for this winter.

Across England, flu cases have risen considerably.

An average of 5,105 flu patients were in general hospital beds in the week to January 1, up 47 per cent on the previous week and almost 15 times the number seen between November 14 and 20.

Flu patients in critical care beds have also jumped sharply, up 26% week-on-week from 267 to 336.

What they say

Health research centre the King's Fund said: "The NHS was struggling before the rise in flu cases, so there is a lot more needed in resources, funding and investment so that services can deal with the same problems should they arise in the future."

It also encouraged people to take the flu vaccine, which has not been universally taken up by those entitled to the free jab.

Sarah Scobie, deputy director of health think tank the Nuffield Trust, said flu cases were especially high in the week before Christmas and suggested they may have peaked this winter, though it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions.

She said: "There are still difficult weeks ahead for the NHS, as the system struggles to discharge patients from hospital in a timely way.

On the extra pressure on hospital beds, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "We are supporting NHS staff with billions of pounds of extra funding, but in particular this winter, what we want to do is make sure we move people out of hospitals into social care, into communities.

"That is one of the most powerful ways we can ease some of the pressures on A&E departments and ambulances that are waiting too long."

Medical Director Dr Chris Barben, of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The UK Health and Security Agency reported a significant increase in influenza and other seasonal respiratory infections in the North West in December, which was reflected in increased admissions to our hospitals.

"Consequently, we asked all visitors and staff to wear a face mask unless medically exempt. These are freely available at the entrances to all our buildings.

“We are now seeing significantly fewer patients with flu but Covid-19 case numbers remain high both in the community and the hospital. Visitors and staff should

continue using face masks until the risk of winter infections subsides.”

Ambulance delays at Blackpool

Ambulance delays at A&E departments across the country also reached a new high in the week to January 1.

More than a quarter of patients waited over an hour to be transferred, while 44 per cent of handovers took longer than 30 minutes.

At Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust, 34 per cent of the 515 ambulance arrivals took more than an hour, while 50 per cent waited 30 minutes or more.

NHS targets state trusts should complete 95 per cent of all ambulance handovers in 30 minutes, with all conducted in less than one hour.

A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance as they could have been moved into an A&E department but the handover was not completed.

What is the situation with bed occupancy at Blackpool Vic

As of January 1, 89 per cent of the 847 beds across adult and paediatric general and acute wards at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were occupied.

Of the occupied beds, 736 were for adults beds and 22 for children.

A further 12 of 36 critical care beds were occupied.