Health Hospitals are under pressure as flu admissions soar this winter
Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary are under pressure due to an influx of flu patients, as several times as many beds have been taken up in recent weeks compared to the same time last year.
NHS data for last week has shownthattheCalderdaleand HuddersfieldNHSFoundation Trust(CHFT)hadatleastthree times as many beds occupied by flu patients compared to the same week in 2023.
At times the numbers were almost five times as high, with 44 beds being used on February 11, compared to just nine last year.
This is not a situation unique to CHFT as the heightened numbers mirror the national picture.
Data has shown that there were three times as many flu patients in hospital every day last week (2,390) than in the same week last year (737).
In addition, last week saw a national average of 565 patients with norovirus and 3,232 patients with Covid-19 in hospital each day.
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust’s medical director, David Birkenhead,
said: “Like other trusts regionally and nationally, we are caring for around three times more patients with the flu than this time last year.
“We would ask the public not to visit loved ones in our hospitals if they are unwell or have flu-like symptoms.
"Our priority is to protect our most vulnerable patients, so everything we can all do to keep them safe will help them recover more quickly.”
“The public can play their part by continuing to only use 999 and A&E in an emergency and using 111 online or local pharmacies and GP services for other conditions.”