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NHS emergency services face 'Tripledemic'
24 Nov 2022
Clinical leaders have issued a warning that the NHS is facing the threat of a ‘tripledemic’ of covid, flu and record demand on urgent and emergency services.
This comes hot on the heels of a report published by NHS England which shows that there was an average of 344 patients a day with flu in hospital last week, more than 10 times the number seen at the beginning of December last year (31).
The pressure from covid and flu comes on top of pressure caused by staff sickness, with nearly 360,000 (359,394) days lost to staff absences last week.
Recent monthly data has shown significant pressure on urgent and emergency care services, with this year seeing the busiest October ever for A&E attendances and the most serious ambulance callouts. This was on the back of the busiest summer ever for ambulance staff dealing with the most serious callouts.
Separate quarterly data shows hospitals were more full this summer than any on record, despite the NHS creating more than 4,000 extra beds in the year to August.
Bed occupancy data for July to September showed general and acute beds were running at 90.1% occupancy, higher than any previous second quarter.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director, said: “The first weekly data this year shows the considerable pressure faced by staff before we enter what is likely to be the NHS’s most challenging winter ever.
“The figures also show that flu is unfortunately already with us and so the concerns that we had about the threat of a ‘tripledemic’ are very real. Hospitals continue to contend with more patients coming in than going out, with thousands of patients everyday in hospital who are medically fit for discharge, and so we continue to work with colleagues in social care to do everything possible to ensure people can leave hospital when they are ready.”
Martin Flaherty, managing director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), said: "These crippling delays are a twin threat - they cause significant harm to patients who are forced to wait in the back of our ambulances, while our crews are stuck and therefore unable to respond to patients who need us out in the community.
"As the colder winter weather approaches we have serious concerns that things will get worse in the coming weeks and months.
"The life-saving safety net that NHS ambulance services provide is being severely compromised by these unnecessary delays, and patients are dying and coming to harm as a result on a daily basis."
The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) reported the highest-ever monthly hours lost to ambulance handover delays.
There were 52,000 handover delays exceeding an hour in October, an increase of 7,000 from the previous month. Almost one in five of all handovers now exceeds 60 minutes and the overall amount of time lost has now doubled since October 2021.