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More than 20 people with swine flu are dangerously ill as doctors warn that a second wave is hitting London.
New figures show at least 24 people are being treated for the virus in intensive care wards across London - double the previous week. Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: "We've seen a very substantial increase now in the numbers in intensive care from last week. This is the area of concern."
One more person in London has died with the illness in the past seven days, and a further 98 people are being treated in other wards at London hospitals, NHS London said today. So far 36 people in London have died with swine flu, and 101 people in other parts of the country.
There are 751 people in hospital across Britain with the virus, of which 157 - or 20 per cent - are in intensive care. It comes amid growing concern that the roll-out of the vaccine is in chaos, with doctors warning many patients will not be inoculated until December. NHS London admitted not every GP surgery in the capital has yet received the vaccine. It will take up to three weeks before all 1,700 GP practices can start vaccinating.
Doctors have already criticised the immunisation campaign because supplies of the vaccine are being sent out at random with doctors getting no prior notice of their delivery date.
Doctors said this will lead to delays because they cannot tell patients in advance when to turn up for jabs.
Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said: "This is impossible. We've made all these plans but we can't carry them out because they can't tell us when this [the vaccine] is coming.
"It will then take one to two weeks after the vaccine has been delivered to get it out to people."
Ian Dalton, national director for NHS flu resilience, said it was "not a surprise" most GPs had not received doses yet. He added: "It's the nature of running a vaccination programme of this type."
Latest figures from the Health Protection Agency revealed an estimated 78,000 new cases of swine flu in England in the past week. This is up from 53,000 in the week before but falls short of the 100,000 cases seen at the peak of swine flu in July.
An NHS London spokeswoman said the patient who died this week had a serious underlying health condition. Dr Chloe Sellwood, Pandemic Flu Lead at NHS London said: "We would like to extend our condolences to the family.
"For the majority of people swine flu remains a mild illness and most will recover after just a few days. You should always contact your GP by telephone if your symptoms persist or get worse."
Those with conditions such as heart disease, cancer, asthma and diabetes are first in line for the jabs, with pregnant women and frontline NHS staff.
