Several Hospitals Declare Critical Incidents Amid Rising Flu Admissions

Ambulances outside the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, on Jan. 8, 2025. Yui Mok/PA Wire

Several NHS trusts have declared critical incidents as hospitals struggle to cope with high demand amid rising cases of flu.

As a result, a number of hospitals have advised patients to attend accident and emergency services alone in order limit the spread of viruses.

NHS England’s national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said, “Frontline NHS staff are under significant pressure and the demand is showing no signs of letting up.”

Powis continued that the latest data show flu cases “skyrocketed to around 5,000 a day in hospitals at the end of last year and multiple trusts across the country [are] declaring incidents to help them to manage additional strain on services.”

Hospitals in Birmingham, Cornwall, Hampshire, Liverpool, Northamptonshire, and Plymouth have all declared critical incidents in recent days.

A critical incident is declared when health care services are so busy that special measures must be put in place in order to restore normal operations and keep patients safe.

Patients Told to Come Alone

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said it had declared a critical incident owing to a significant demand in care, particularly with a high number of older patients with respiratory problems exacerbated by the cold weather.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is under so much pressure that it has asked patients to seek medical attention alone where possible.

Dr. Ed Smith, deputy medical director for the trust, said that while their services are busy all year round, “we are exceptionally busy at the moment with a high volume of poorly patients attending.”

Smith added, “While we understand it’s appropriate for a friend or family member to accompany with a child or as a carer for example, if patients can attend alone, this will help free up much-needed space for other patients.”

East Sussex Hospital Trust also announced on Tuesday it is limiting visitors to one patient per day, with the exception those visiting children under 16, the special care baby unit, and end-of-life care.

‘Not an Outlier’

Last week, NHS data showed that the number of patients in England with flu was more than four times higher than one month ago.

However, stress on the service is far from unusual for this time of year.

Dr. Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said, “This flu season is not an outlier, but the problem is our emergency care system is so overwhelmed and fragile that a normal flu season—which is what we’ve got at the moment—is creating severe operational difficulties.”

Boyle added that it would be a “mistake” to think this pressures being felt was solely a result of winter viruses, adding that the service has been “chronically overloaded and overwhelmed for a number of years.”

“It is a significant flu outbreak, but the problem is there’s just no capacity to deal with it. So it is really a straw that is breaking the camel’s back,” he said.

2-Day Wait

Non-urgent patients have been warned that they could face long waits in A&E.

Some trusts have urged patients to consider other options, such as contacting their GP, calling the non-emergency NHS 111 number, or seeing a pharmacist.

At least one patient at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital was forced to wait more than two days in A&E owing to pressure on services.

Ambulances outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke, England, on Jan. 8, 2025. Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Dr. Annie Farrell, a GP and chairwoman of Liverpool’s local medical committee representing GPs, said there has been an increasing number of patients who are sick, but who might struggle to get prompt care at A&E.

Farrell said, “For quite a while now, we know as a GP that if we feel somebody needs to go to hospital, we’re having to sit down with them and say we’re sentencing you to potentially over 24 hours in a plastic chair in a waiting room.”

Minister Pledges Improvement

Health Secretary Wes Streeting spoke to LBC radio on Tuesday on the state of A&E services. He pledged to do “everything I can” to “make sure that year-on-year, we see consistent improvement,” but added that this will “take time.”

Streeting said: “We’ve got this extraordinary pressure on flu where we’ve got between three and four times as many hospital beds taken up with flu cases this year than we did this time last year.

“Even so, annual winter pressures should not lead to an annual winter crisis.”

The minister confirmed that the government would shortly publish an emergency care reform plan, which would include plans for next winter.

In October, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer launched a consultation on the future of the NHS to help shape the government’s 10-year health plan, which will be published this spring.

PA Media contributed to this report.