Hospitals face winter flu alert says NHS boss

HOSPITALS should be braced for a “pressurised” flu season this winter, the head of the NHS has warned.

Health chiefs expect an unusually high demand for beds in the wake of a heavy flu outbreak in the Southern Hemisphere during its winter.

Hospitals in Australia and New Zealand struggled to cope, waiting times were long and doors were closed to new patients.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said the situation Down Under was being reviewed over here in case it “reproduces itself” during the British winter.

Struggled

He told delegates at the NHS Expo conference in Manchester: “For the next three, four, five months, the top priority 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 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.

“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.”

Later Mr Stevens said the flu seen in the Southern Hemisphere was the variety that puts the most pressure on old people’s services, such as care homes.

He said: “If that reproduces itself here over this coming winter that is going to mean much more pressure on GP services and hospitals.

“That simply reinforces the work the NHS is doing to open extra beds and ensure that a full range of outof-hospitals services, such as home care and care homes, are ready.

“The World Health Organisation identifies the best mix for the vaccine and that is the one Public Health England use.”

He added: “We are reviewing the Australia and New Zealand experience. The evidence is we are likely to have a more pressurised flu season this year.”

Mr Stevens said National A&E Director Pauline Philip had been reviewing readiness in each part of the country.

The aim was to ensure hospitals have at least 2,000 to 3,000 extra beds available, the figure health chiefs believed would be needed going into the winter.

He added: “In some parts of the country there are real pressures so we are using the next six to eight weeks to be clear on the plan.

“Part of this is ensuring that we see further improvement in delayed discharges before November and the plan to free up beds relies on significant improvement in that area.”

Paul Cosford, medical director at Public Health England, said: “The strains of flu circulating in Australia led to a significant increase in cases but it’s too early to know which will be the dominant strain in England.

“It’s important that as many eligible people as possible get jabs, which is the best way to protect everyone.”