Hospitals set for early flu season

The flu season has started earlier than usual, with surgeries and hospitals experiencing levels this month not usually seen until January and February.

The most recent reports for flu infections record some 40 cases per 100,000 people - thought to be the highest amount at this time of year for eight years.

Combined with an influx of illnesses related to this month's cold snap, experts have warned that hospitals are under "intense pressure", particularly this week when many doctors' surgeries will shut for four days over Christmas.

Jonathan Fielden from the British Medical Association said: "We all know that this time of year has increased pressures, but this winter has been worse than many of the last few."

He added: "Hospitals are under intense pressure. The cold snap has brought, as predicted, an increase in the number of chest and cardiac problems. We have also seen intense pressure on our ambulance colleagues."

Dr Fielden criticised the government's target of an 18-week wait for patients to receive elective surgery and said attempting to meet this goal made it even more difficult for hospitals to deal with the current problems.

"We need a slightly longer wait for elective surgery so we can deal in a better way with the emergency cases at the moment. We need the flexibility locally to have a little bit of leeway."

The concerns come just days after the national director of ambulance services said ambulance workers and A&E departments were "struggling to cope" with the winter illness season. Peter Bradley said that outbreaks of flu and the winter vomiting bug along with falls and breathing problems associated with the cold weather had led to the most difficult 10 days he had seen in the last 10 years.

A spokesman for NHS North West, which has seen "pockets" of flu outbreaks in Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire, said: "Flu has hit us harder and earlier this season. We're looking at reported cases of flu and its related complications, such as pneumonic infections, that we wouldn't expect to see until January or February. Flu illness among staff is also an issue. We're seeing sickness levels higher than we would anticipate at this time of year."