GP surgeries are struggling to cope with the influx of patients amid the winter ‘Aussie flu’ epidemic, with some being forced to wait three weeks for an appointment.
Doctors are cancelling holidays and working late into the night to try to manage the demand after being told to keep patients out of wards as hospitals throughout the country buckle under winter flu pressures.
Patients who manage to secure an appointment are waiting hours to be seen, with some even been asked to make their own way to hospital rather than calling for an ambulance to ease hospitals’ burdens, which has left many seriously worried for their safety.
The below map reveals the areas of the UK worst struck by Aussie flu, which is thought to be a key driver behind the NHS crisis.
Plymouth has been hit the hardest, with 14 new cases in the past three weeks, followed by Doncaster with eight new incidences, Durham with five, Dumfries and Galloway in north-west Scotland with three, and Sutton with two.
This is compared to regions including North Wales, Colchester and Bath that have no recorded new cases.
The new figures follow the unprecedented move to cancel up to 55,000 non-urgent operations for the month to free up beds and front line staff amid a rise in flu cases.
Plymouth has been hit the hardest by Aussie flu, with 14 new cases in the past three weeks
Some 16,900 people had to wait over 30 minutes to be seen by A&E in the Christmas week
Certain NHS Trusts have cancelled non-urgent operations for the month to focus on flu
‘GP surgeries are finding it hard to cope’
Dr Kieran Sharrock, medical director of Lincolnshire LMC, told Pulse that practices in his area have been ‘flooded with winter-related illnesses and are finding it hard to cope’.
Certain out-of-hours services are regularly receiving more than 100 calls, which need to be prioritised for treatment, according to Dr Sharrock.
Some GP surgeries have run out of locum doctors, while one practice even asked patients to make their own way to hospital rather than calling an ambulance as Dr Eamonn Jessup, North Wales LMC chair, says services are ‘creaking at the seams’.
Amid the chaos, patient safety has become a serious concern, with Dr Jessup adding, ‘there are patients who you would normally like to go into hospital who you are trying to keep at home and taking more of a risk than you normally would.’
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, one of the hospitals encouraging patients to make their own way in, responded to more than 4,100 emergency incidents on Christmas and Boxing Day alone, 781 of which were life-threatening. This is up by around 200 cases from last year.
Prime Minister Theresa May denied the NHS is in a crisis (pictured walking around a new housing development in Wokingham yesterday). She has since visited one of the Trusts
What does the map show?
Flu prevalence throughout the UK is recorded via an online ‘flusurvey’, which members of the public can log on to and record their symptoms. True cases may therefore be highly under-represented.
The data is used by researchers from Public Health England and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to monitor flu trends in the UK.
New flu cases are defined as a sudden onset of at least one of the following symptoms: fever, headache, muscle pain and a general feeling of poor health; alongside one or more of the following: cough, sore throat and shortness of breath.
The map was correct at the time of writing the article. The flusurvey data is updated every three minutes.
Ms May’s comments followed an apology by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt for the affected patients following pressure from critics for him to speak out about the controversial move (pictured outside the BBC Wogan House in London yesterday)
How serious is the NHS crisis?
Record numbers of patients are being forced to wait in ambulances for treatment as 12 hospital trusts have no free beds to treat those coming to A&E.
NHS data shows the stark winter pressures have gripped casualty units across the country, with ambulance delays of an hour having doubled in a week.
A total of 16,900 people were forced to wait for more than 30 minutes to be seen by staff at A&E over the Christmas week – the highest total this winter.
Some 4,734 ambulances faced a wait of at least an hour, despite guidelines saying this should be no longer than 15 minutes, during the week ending December 31.
The statistics, published by NHS England, also showed 12 trusts, which manage 16 hospitals, were operating at 100 per cent bed occupancy levels.
This figure is double that of the same day in 2016, when just six 100 per cent bed occupancies were recorded. The Red Cross branded last winter’s situation a ‘humanitarian crisis’.
Families have also been asked to look after elderly patients at home to free up beds as hospitals struggle to cope with the ever-increasing pressure.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May refused to accept the NHS was in a crisis, despite admitting the ‘extremely difficult circumstances’ A&E units are facing.
Ms May visited Frimley Park Hospital near Camberley today, which is one of the trusts cancelling non-urgent procedures.