NHS England has warned the health service is facing a “worst case scenario” December with a surge of “super flu”.
The warning comes as new figures revealed the number of people in hospital with flu have increased by more than half in just one week.
An average of 2,660 patients were in hospital per day with flu last week.
This is the highest ever for this time of year and up 55% on last week.
Health service bosses are warning the number of flu patients in hospital has already increased sharply since the week covered by this data – with no peak in sight.
Alongside rocketing flu, the number of norovirus patients in hospital has also risen by 35%.
The NHS is now warning winter viruses are starting to “engulf hospitals”.
NHS warns of ‘worst-case scenario’ as ‘super flu’ surges
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Demand for A&Es and ambulance services is also soaring.
New monthly figures show A&E attendances were a record for November at 2.35 million – more than 30,000 higher than November 2024.
In addition, there were 48,814 more ambulance incidents (802, 525) compared with last year (753,711).
The record-breaking demand coincides with a resident doctors’ strike from December 17 to 22 – sparking fears of major disruption for patients in the run up to Christmas.
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