Flu hit hospitals in England even harder last week, as a ‘tidal wave’ of infections led to a 70% increase in hospital cases across just 7 days.

The NHS is encouraging eligible people to get vaccinated without delay if they haven’t done so already to avoid “festive flu” with an average of 1,861 patients with flu in hospital every day last week – up from 1,099 in the previous week and a staggering 3.5 times higher compared to the same time last year.

Norovirus and RSV are also on the rise – norovirus cases are up by 10% from last week and almost two thirds since (64%) last year and 152 children were in hospital with RSV each day, up by over two fifths on the same period last year (107 week ending 10 December 2023).

The “tidal wave” of seasonal illnesses is prompting further “quad-demic” concerns across the NHS with staff pulling out the stops to deliver almost 28 million vaccines so far in convenient places like Christmas markets, football clubs, and supermarkets.

Separate monthly performance data, also published today, shows just how hard NHS staff have been working to deliver care to patients with record numbers of elective treatments and tests and checks in October – showing signs of further improvement in NHS productivity.

Despite busier urgent care services going into winter, the waiting list fell from 7.57 million to 7.54 million with staff delivering a record 1.67 million treatments in a month, up 6% on the same month before the pandemic (1.57 million in October 2019). The estimated number of patients waiting in October was 6.34 million.

The number of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks (3.1 million) is the lowest since June 2023, while the number of waits longer than a year (234,885) is now the lowest since December 2020 and down 46% on the peak of 436,127 in March 2021.

The NHS also delivered:

• A record number of diagnostic tests and checks – 2.54 million – a fifth more activity than pre-pandemic (2.1 million in October 2019). The proportion of patients waiting more than 6 weeks for checks (20.7%) was the lowest since March 2020.
• More people than ever before were diagnosed with cancer or received the all clear within 4 weeks (222,888) with the NHS meeting the 28-day target in 5 of the last 6 months (77.1% against 75% operational target).

Pressure on urgent and emergency services did not let up last month, with more ambulance contacts than any other November (1.18 million), up 6% on last year (1.1 million in Nov 2023). There was also a significant increase in the most serious category 1 incidents, up almost a third last month on the same period pre-pandemic (84,266 vs 63,227).

It was the busiest November on record for A&E staff with a total of 2.31 million attendances, 7% higher than last year (2.17 million in Nov 2023).

Yet despite the extra demand, teams saw 153,906 more patients within 4 hours than in November 2023, with performance against the 4-hour target up more than 2 percentage points on last year (72.1% vs 69.8% in Nov 2023).

Ahead of winter the NHS put in place measures to manage extra demand including upgraded 24 hour co-ordination centres, support for frequent users of A&E services, strengthening same day emergency care and providing more care in the community.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director, said: “The tidal wave of flu cases and other seasonal viruses hitting hospitals is really concerning for patients and for the NHS – the figures are adding to our ‘quad-demic’ worries.

“While the NHS has plans in place to manage additional demand over the busy winter period, with 1 week left to book your vaccine, I cannot stress enough the importance of getting booked in to protect yourself against serious illness and to avoid ‘festive flu”.

“Despite the extreme winter pressures early in the year, the figures out today show further improvements towards boosting NHS productivity – not only is the covid backlog reducing but more people than ever before received treatment, a faster cancer diagnosis or a diagnostic check – which shows the truly remarkable efforts from staff.

“We will work with government to bring the waits for care even further with the 10-year health plan next year helping us to transform services for the future, but as the incredibly busy winter continues, I would encourage everyone to remember to use NHS 111 in the first instance and only use A&E and 999 in life-threatening emergencies”.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Since the general election, we have been ramping up to delivering the extra 2 million appointments a year, ending the strikes, and investing more in the health service.

“As a result, the NHS today is delivering a record number of treatments and waiting lists have begun to fall. There’s a long way to go, but through our Plan for Change we will get patients seen on time again.

“With A&Es facing record demand, we are continuing to encourage people to protect themselves, their family, and the NHS by getting vaccinated before it’s too late”.