Team Blitz India
LONDON: Frontline NHS pressures are not letting up as winter ends, with huge demand on hospital services as general practitioners (GPs) delivered record number of appointments.
The latest data continues to show a reduction in flu cases in hospitals, however there were still on average 1,333 patients in a ward bed with flu each day last week. While this was down by just under a half when compared to the current peak for this winter of 2,487 flu cases per day (week ended February 4), it was still more than three times higher compared to the same week last year (430 for week ended March 5).
The number of patients with norovirus remained the same as last week, with an average of 470 patients with the virus in hospital every day. The latest data also shows there were 1,862 beds occupied by patients with Covid-19. There was a significant increase in the number of calls answered by NHS 111 last week compared to the same period last year, up a fifth from 297,586 to 363,480. Despite higher demand, 111 call handlers answered more than two thirds (67.4 per cent) of calls within a minute, up from 48.6 per cent last year.
And new data shows GPs seeing record numbers of patients, with 53 million more appointments – excluding those for Covid vaccinations – delivered last year, compared to before the pandemic.
New monthly NHS data published on March 7 shows more than 360 million appointments – excluding those for Covid vaccinations – were delivered by GPs and primary care networks in the last 12 months (February 2023 to January 2024). The latest statistics show in January, 32.5 million appointments were delivered, up one fifth compared to the previous month.
