The weekly winter reporting figures from NHS England, released today (December 1) show that the number of beds taken up by patients fit to be discharged is more than a quarter higher than the start of December last year.
More than 13,000 beds were filled nearly every day last week by patients who did not meet the criteria to reside in hospital - on average 13,364 up from 13,179 over the previous seven days – and a significant jump from the comparable figure last year of 10,510.
The figures for last week also show:
• 40% jump in the number of patients in hospital with flu compared to the previous week, with an average of 482 flu cases, up from 344
• Norovirus cases are up a quarter over the previous week, with 157 beds being taken up each day, up from 126
• Overall General & Acute adult bed occupancy rates remain high for this time of year at 95.4% - compared to 93.8% at the beginning of December last year
• 31.3% of ambulance handovers were delayed by 30 minutes or more, compared with 23.1% at the same point last year, and 14.8% were delayed by 60 minutes or more, up from 9.8% last year
• Nine in ten paediatric intensive care beds were filled by children last week (89.6%), compared to 82.5% at the beginning of December last year.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, says the NHS is facing a “perfect storm” with winter virus cases rising rapidly alongside ongoing pressures in emergency care, hugely constrained bed capacity and delayed discharge of those who are medically fit to leave hospital.
“We have already said we expect this to be the NHS’s most challenging winter yet, which is why we started preparing earlier than ever before with extensive plans in place to deal with winter-boosting bed capacity, including more than 40 control centres to track and manage demand 24/7, which are now live across England,” Stephen Powis adds.
New ‘traffic control centres’
More than 40 healthcare ‘traffic control centres’ are now live, with each of the 42 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) in England now having a dedicated 24/7 operation where teams, including senior clinicians, can use data and local insights to make considered decisions in the face of ongoing pressures.
The pioneering centres use data to respond to emerging challenges and can divert ambulances to another nearby hospital that may have more capacity, or identify hospitals that need extra support.
Control centre staff are now able to monitor a range of data including A&E performance and waiting times, staffing levels, ambulance response times and bed occupancy, and can work with partners across the ICS to stay across capacity in social care and primary care demand.
This initiative is part of the winter plan published in October, which also included the rollout of a national falls response team service, new hubs dedicated to serious respiratory infections and additional bed capacity.
The weekly winter data has also been published earlier than ever before, with previous publications starting in December.
