Hospitals have to be braced for flu season

HOSPITALS have been urged to brace themselves for a “pressurised” flu season this winter, the head of the National Health Service has said.

The comments from NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens come at the tail end of a “heavy flu outbreak” in the Southern Hemisphere during its winter.

Hospitals in Australia and New Zealand struggled to cope, he said as he urged hospitals in England to be prepared for flu season.

Mr Stevens said the health service was reviewing the situation in the countries, where hospitals were forced to close their doors to new patients and people faced long waiting times.

He told delegates at the NHS Expo conference in Manchester: “For the next three, four, five months, the top priority for every (NHS) leader, every part of the NHS, is ensuring that the NHS goes into winter in as strong a position as possible.

“We know we’re going to have more hospital beds open, we know we are better prepared, but we also know that the pressures are going to be real.

“The signs from Australia and New Zealand, who are just coming out of their winter, are that it has been a heavy flu season and many of the hospitals down there have struggled to cope.

“We know that there is a great deal of work to be done over the next six to eight weeks with our partners in local authorities to put the NHS on the right footing for the winter ahead.”