‘Festive flu’ will add to virus spike as pressure on Warwick Hospital and ambulance service mounts

A ‘tidal wave’ of winter viruses is putting more pressure on already hard-hit hospital and ambulance emergency services.

Data released by NHS England showed there were an average of nearly 1,900 beds occupied by flu patients last week – up 70 per cent on the week before.

A spokesperson for South Warwickshire University Foundation Trust said: “Similarly to NHS trusts nationally, we are currently experiencing unprecedented demand for all our services. This includes a significant increase in the number of people accessing urgent care and an increase in flu cases, a rise in norovirus, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

“The number of attendances to our Emergency Department is consistently the highest we have ever experienced, which puts pressure on capacity across the organisation.”

They added: “Despite these challenging circumstances our staff continue to work extremely hard to provide safe, effective, and compassionate care to patients.”

Flu season usually peaks in December and January. Unfortunately family get-togethers at Christmas elevates rates, which doctors refer to as ‘festive flu’.

SWFT said that people should be mindful of this with more vulnerable family members.

“To help your local NHS services, we are asking the public to consider which service is right for them before seeking treatment and anyone feeling unwell is advised to not visit relatives in hospital or anyone who is vulnerable in the community,” said the spokesperson.

“If you are eligible, you can also get your free flu and Covid-19 vaccines from a local drop-in clinic,” they added.

One Shipston resident shared their concern over problems with the ambulance service after calling for help this week.

Sharing his experience on Facebook on Tuesday (17th December), Sam Reading-East said: “Just a heads up, we had need to call an ambulance for chest pains on 999 at 5am this morning. We were told there's a two-hour wait for ambulances and to make our way to Warwick Hospital by ourselves. There are people in the waiting room that have been here for 18 hours.”

Many others shared similar experiences in response.

Addressing the issues, a West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) spokesperson explained that call handlers would never tell anyone to make their own way to hospital, but would ask after feedback and research indicated that this was a preferred option for many - but that an ambulance would always be sent as quickly as possible for those that this wasn’t an option for.

One of the major pressures on WMAS - and other ambulance services - is the result of hospital handover delays, with November being “the third worst month on record for hospital handover delays”, according to the spokesperson.

The national guidance states that patients arriving at an emergency department by ambulance must be handed over to the care of A&E staff within 15 minutes. A handover delay does not necessarily mean that the patient waited in the ambulance – they may have been moved into the A&E department, but staff were not available to complete the handover.

The WMAS spokesperson explained: “When ambulances are delayed handing their patient over at hospital, they are unable to respond to the next call, which impacts on the care of patients in the community. There is a direct correlation between hospital handover delays and our ability to get to patients in the community quickly.

“We are fortunate that Warwick Hospital is one of the best performers in the region, particularly in regards to their frailty care. However, delays elsewhere can impact us as vehicles are stuck outside other hospitals and not available to respond to cases in the south Warwickshire area.

“Our staff and volunteers across the service are working exceptionally hard to get to patients as quickly as possible,” they added. Sadly, we are seeing some patients wait much longer for a response than we would want as a result of hospital handover delays for which we apologise.

“We rely on each part of the health and social care system to work together to allow our ambulances to get to patients quickly. We continue to work hard with our partners to find new ways to reduce the delays, so that we can save more lives.”

People who are concerned over symptoms of winter viruses are advised to visit NHS 111 online or speak to a local pharmacist for advice.