Winter

This monthly publication will feature a compilation of NHS England's weekly sitreps up to and inclusive of the data published on 16 January 2025.

Key points 

• General and acute bed occupancy in hospitals dipped over the festive period but increased to 96% for adults by mid-January - a high for this winter.  

• 237,000 hours have been lost to ambulance handover delays this winter, nearly 65,000 (38%) more than the same point in winter last year, but in line with 2022/23. 

• After climbing all winter, the number of hospital beds occupied by flu patients fell for the first time by 9% across the first two weeks of January. They are still up by 251% on last year and 45% compared to 2022-23.  

Winter illnesses

Hospital bed occupancy for flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), diarrhoea and vomiting and norovirus (D&V) fell over the first two weeks of January, but remains high compared to last year:

General and acute hospital beds occupied by flu patients climbed throughout December to nearly 5,200 in the first week of January but fell back by 9% in the second week of January to 4,700. The latest figures are 3.5 times greater than last year’s, but more closely resemble the flu trend from two years ago which had a January peak (see figure 12).

Data reported by UKHSA suggest that flu hospitalisations have fallen throughout January but are the highest for January in the last seven winters (see figure 29 in this report).

FIGURE 12
Average daily number of general and acute beds occupied by flu patients

• Beds closed to diarrhoea and vomiting and norovirus (D&V) reached a low point of 670 over Christmas and have stabilised at around 750 beds over the first half of January – around 30% higher than last year.
• The number of beds occupied by Covid-19 patients has been gradually falling throughout winter, but remains at over 1000 in mid-January.
• Staff absences have been increasing since Christmas with 54,900 staff absent each day in acute trusts - 12% higher than the same period in 2023/24.
• NHS teams have delivered over 29 million flu, Covid-19 and RSV vaccinations have to date this winter.

A&E, ambulance arrivals and handovers

• Signs of the record demand for A&E and ongoing pressures for the ambulance service (see our acute and ambulance section), continue to appear in the winter sitrep data: There have been a total of 271 A&E diverts across the first seven weeks of winter, almost double the same period last year (139).
• The number of patients arriving to hospital by ambulance has fallen back from a post-pandemic high of nearly 94,500 during the festive period to 87,700 in the second week of January. This takes the total so far this winter to 639,000 patients arriving by ambulance to hospital, 3% higher than the same period last winter and over a quarter (26%) higher than two years ago.
• Nearly 30,000 hours were lost to handover delays during the second week of January, a 40% reduction on the week previous, but still 80% higher than last winter. So far this winter, close to 237,000 hours have been lost to handovers beyond 30 minutes, nearly 65,000 (38%) more than the same point in winter last year but in line with 2022/23 (see figure 13).

FIGURE 13
Cumulative number of hours lost to ambulance handover delays beyond 30 minutes  

Bed occupancy and capacity

• General and acute bed occupancy in hospitals fell throughout December to a low of 89% over the festive period but returned to early December levels by mid-January (94%). This follows a similar pattern to last year (see figure 14), but occupancy was slightly lower in mid-January 2024 (93.3%).
• General and acute bed occupancy for adults in hospitals also dipped over the festive period but returned to 96% in mid-January - a high for this winter.
• The average number of patients waiting to be discharged and the number remaining in hospital though they were fit to be discharged has been increasing since the Christmas period. In the second week of January, 58% of patients fit to be discharged remained in hospital, equivalent to 14% of all occupied hospital beds taken by a patient fit to be discharged – in line with last year (14%).

FIGURE 14
General and acute bed occupancy (%) 

To interact with our winter analysis and make comparisons with the latest data to previous years, please view our winter watch dashboard.