New figures show that NHS staff in the A&E department experienced the business year on record, as flu cases continue to exert pressure on hospitals and emergency services.
Data shows that there was an average of 5,407 patients a day in hospitals with flu last week, 256 of which were in critical care. This figure is 3.5 times higher than the same week last year, where there were 1,548 patients in hospitals with flu. Several trusts this week have declared critical incidents, citing exceptional demand due to colder weather and respiratory viruses.
Covid, RSV, and norovirus cases also remained high, with more than 1,100 patients hospitalised with Covid every day last week, as well as 626 patients with norovirus — an increase of almost 50 per cent on the same week last year (424). Additionally, an average of 72 children were in hospital with RSV every day, up 47 per cent from last year.
This increase following Christmas and New Year was anticipated, and so services prepared by ensuring 102,546 general and acute beds were open last week, up from 101,309 the week before.
Moreover, NHS teams have delivered a total of 29 million flu, Covid, and RSV vaccines since the start of the autumn campaign to encourage people to protect themselves and others. Although the national booking system has now closed, those eligible can still get vaccinated using a COVID-19 walk-in vaccination site, or finding a pharmacy offering the flu vaccine.
Data confirmed that 2024 was the busiest year on record for A&E and ambulance services in England, with December recording the highest number ever of ambulance incidents in one month.
Ambulance teams dealt with 806,405 incidents in December, and a total of 8.94 cases in 2024 as a whole. This is approximately 1 in 14 more than last year, where 8.45 incidents were recorded.
Unprecedented demand hit A&E services in 2024, with 2.35 million attendances in December as part of an annual rate of 27.42 million total attendances in 2024. This is the busiest year for A&Es ever recorded, and 7.1 per cent higher than in 2023, where 25.61 million attendances were recorded.
But despite this influx, NHS continued to deliver improvements for its patients, seeing around 150,000 more patients within the four hour target in December, as compared to last year. 71.1 per cent of patients were seen within this target in 2024, compared to 69.5 per cent in 2023.
Moreover, the waiting list continued to decline in November, down 61,413 to 7.48 million and the lowest the waiting list has been since May 2023. The estimated number of patients waiting in November was 6.28 million.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director, said: “It is clear that hospitals are under exceptional pressure at the start of this new year, with mammoth demand stemming from this ongoing cold weather snap and respiratory viruses like flu — all on the back of 2024 being the busiest year on record for A&E and ambulance teams.
“I never fail to be impressed by the remarkable job that NHS staff across a range of services in the face of current challenges, remaining compassionate, professional and doing everything they can to see patients as quickly as possible while often working in hospitals that are full to bursting. It is hard to qualify just through the data how tough it is for frontline staff at the moment — with some staff working in A&E saying that their days at work feel like some of the days we had during the height of the pandemic.
“That hard work and resilience from staff, alongside vital tools like surgical hubs and community diagnostic centres that keep planned care isolated from winter pressure, meant the waiting list fell again in November to 7.48 million, with the NHS delivering 5 per cent more activity than the same period pre-pandemic.
“As the incredibly busy winter continues and hospitals clearly experience intense pressure, please do continue to only use 99 and A&E for life-threatening emergencies and use NHS 111 and 111 online for other conditions, as well as using your local GP and pharmacy services in the usual way.”
Health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “In the past six months, we have ended the junior doctors’ strikes so staff are on the front line not the picket line for the first winter in three years, and introduced the new RSV vaccine. But despite the best efforts of staff, patients are still receiving unacceptable standards of care.
“Although this winter’s campaign vaccinated more people than last winter, this strain of flu has hit hard, putting more than three times as many patients into hospital compared to this time last year.
“Annual winter pressures should not mean an annual winter crisis, which is why this government is making significant investment in the NHS, undertaking fundamental reform, and acting now to improve social care. It will take time to turn the NHS around, but the fact that waiting lists are now falling shows that change is possible.”
The new Electric Reform Plan, launched earlier this week, will support continued progress, with streamlined appointments, a overhaul of diagnostic care, and a better experience of patients including upgrades to the NHS App.”
