‘Aussie flu’ outbreak and soaring cases of norovirus put extreme pressure on hospitals as NHS winter crisis worsens

SICK Brits face record A&E delays as soaring cases of norovirus and an "Aussie flu"; outbreak cause a rise in hospital beds being shut.

Cases of norovirus have risen by a third in the last week, NHS England revealed today.

Across England, 944 hospital beds were closed due to the winter vomiting bug, up 29 per cent from 731 the week before.

Around 3,800 people have been admitted to hospitals so far this winter, battling flu - in what some experts are warning could be the worst flu season for years.

One in four of those patients are thought to be suffering "Aussie flu", a new strain of the H3N2 virus, that proved particularly virulent in Australia.

Prof Robert Dingwall, a flu expert at Nottingham Trent University, told The Sun Online, "Aussie flu" is likely to cause more severe symptoms than swine flu, which reached pandemic levels in the winter of 2009/10.

Overstretched hospitals have now run out of room for new patients, with bed occupancy levels soaring to 95 per cent - compared to safe levels of 85 per cent.

But 26 trusts are more than 99 per cent full.

Overcrowding is also having a major impact on A&E performance.

Just 77.3 per cent of patients treated at major units - known as type 1 A&Es - were seen within four hours - the worst performance since records began in 2004.

Casualty wards are expected to treat 95 per cent of patients within the target four-hour window.

Across all A&Es, 85.1 per cent of patients were seen in the time period - a joint record low with January 2017.

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 people were forced to wait more than an hour to be seen in emergency departments in England in the first week of the year, the official figures show.

The statistics were released today, as the full extent of the strain on the NHS was laid bare and it was described as reaching a ''watershed moment'' by one health boss.

More than 16,600 people had to wait more than half an hour in A&E departments, NHS England said, as staff are faced with rising numbers of flu cases and respiratory illness, with 48 flu-related deaths in England so far this winter.

The Royal College of Surgeons said it was "disappointing" to see just 77.3 per cent of patients at major A&Es treated within four hours.

Despite planning for winter more thoroughly and extensively than before, it hasn't been sufficient. Rising numbers of flu cases and more respiratory illness have placed intolerable pressures on staff

Chris Hopsonchief executive, NHS Providers

"It further demonstrates why it has been necessary to cancel patients' non-urgent procedures until the end of January," a spokesman added.

"Despite the best efforts and dedication of NHS staff to treat patients quickly, waiting times for non-urgent care have also deteriorated again in the past year."

Last week, NHS England advised that hospitals delay non-urgent planned care until the end of the month, to free up clinical time for emergency care.

The RCS spokesman added: "Although this should help relieve some of the pressures on hospitals and avoid last-minute cancellations, it is a short-term solution and will cause huge disruption to those patients whose appointments and operations have been cancelled."

NHS Providers - the trade body which represents NHS services - had previously warned the health service was "not where it would want to be" heading into winter amid concerns over a bad strain of flu.

Later today, Public Health England will release the latest flu figures, for the last week - which are expected to show a rise in cases.

Earlier this week, experts warned kids going back to school and a worsening flu epidemic in France was a "double-whammy", that threatens to increase cases this side of the Channel.

A letter, written by the body's chief executive Chris Hopson, calls for extra investment on a long-term basis - and help with the immediate financial impact of "exceptional winter pressures" - to address the "fragility of the wider NHS".

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Mr Hopson said: "Despite planning for winter more thoroughly and extensively than before, it hasn't been sufficient. Rising numbers of flu cases and more respiratory illness have placed intolerable pressures on staff.

"The NHS is no longer able to deliver the constitutional standards to which it is committed. We need to be realistic about what we can provide on the funding available.

"If we continue to run the NHS at close to 100 per cent capacity, day in day out, permanently in the red zone, it's not surprising that the service can't cope when we get a high, but entirely predictable, spike in demand."

Warning that failure to act would lead to targets moving further out of reach, he said: "There is so much at stake. We can fix this, but there must be no more delay. The ball is now firmly in the Government's court."

The three-page letter calls for the Government to commit to increasing the NHS budget to £153 billion by 2022/23 - a sum which the Office of Budget Responsibility said was needed given projected increased demand for services.

It read: "The Government now needs to set out how it will create the sustainable, long term, health and care funding settlement you have rightly called for.

"Given the urgency of this task, substantial progress needs to be made by Budget 2018."

Former Liberal Democrat minister Norman Lamb said the country had to be "honest" about how to give the NHS more funding.

His party has called for adding a penny in the pound on income tax.

He said: "The clear message from NHS leaders is that the government must drop its sticking plaster approach to the health service.

"The gap between demand and resources in the NHS is growing each year, with tragic human consequences across the country.

"The stark reality is that the current winter crisis is just a taster of what is to come unless ministers get to grips with the long-term funding shortfall facing the health service."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "The NHS was given top priority in the recent Budget with an extra £2.8bn allocated over the next two years, and was recently ranked as the best and safest healthcare system in the world.

"We know there is a great deal of pressure in A&E departments and that flu rates are going up, and we are grateful to all NHS staff for their incredible work in challenging circumstances.

"That's why we recently announced the largest single increase in doctor training places in the history of the NHS - a 25 per cent expansion."