Norovirus surge shows winter pressures continue to mount

Responding to the latest NHS urgent and emergency care situation reports, Matthew Taylor, interim chief executive of NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation said:

"Winter continues to bite, with the NHS under immense strain amid surging levels of norovirus and rising numbers of patients still in hospital when they are medically fit enough to go home. As a result, bed occupancy is still climbing well above safe levels.

"Delayed discharges are a real challenge for NHS leaders and their teams, when patients can’t leave hospital due to a lack of social or community care it causes bottlenecks. The knock-on impact is significant with ambulances taking longer to handover patients and get back on the road, and A&E staff struggling to find beds for patients coming in, forcing them to treat patients in corridors and other inappropriate settings.

"NHS leaders and their teams are working incredibly hard to keep patients safe amid these sustained pressures, so it is welcome to see the drop in flu levels and improvements in ambulance handovers, however, with further cold weather on the horizon it’s unlikely that there will be a let up any time soon."