Use MailOnline’s ultimate NHS data tracker to see exactly how your hospital is faring amid the ‘quad-demic’, as the NHS struggles with exceptionally high flu and rising instances of human metapneumovirus (hMPV).
Wards and A&E units are ‘full to bursting’ because of the ‘relentless’ pressure from a flood of patients infected with influenza, Covid, norovirus and RSV.
Creaking at the seams in one of the NHS’ toughest ever winters, trusts battling crises on every front have declared critical incidents and warned patients they face being turned away unless they are genuinely sick. Others have re-introduced face masks and restricted visitors to cope with the ‘tidal wave’ of infections.
As well as the quad-demic, cases of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) – another respiratory bug that causes cold-like symptoms – are rising in the UK.
Hospitals in China have reportedly been overwhelmed by a sudden spike in the illness, yet Beijing has downplayed the growing fears which have dominated headlines in the UK and US. Experts have called for Chinese authorities – who initially played down Covid’s threat – to be more transparent about the viral outbreak.
Even before this year’s winter carnage struck, NHS sites were struggling to hit key A&E and cancer targets. Waiting lists had rocketed to all-time highs in the wake of the pandemic.
Under Government plans to thwart the backlogs which have built-up, ministers have vowed to send millions more NHS patients private.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has threatened to name and shame failing hospitals in league tables and sack NHS managers if they fail to make improvements as part of Labour’s reforms.
Our postcode search tool, hailed by NHS chiefs, utilises monthly performance figures collated centrally. It covers all 120-plus NHS trusts.
It reveals the share of patients who are seen within four hours in overwhelmed A&E units, as well as how their trust compares to England’s overall average. Performances against three crucial cancer targets are also exposed, as are the backlogs for routine procedures such as hip and knee replacements.
Under the health service’s own rulebook, all patients needing treatment have the right to be seen within 18 weeks.
Yet, in October, almost three in five patients had been on the books for routine procedures at the country’s worst-performing trust.
With regards to A&E, fewer than half of patients attending major casualty units were seen within four hours – the NHS’s target – at dozens of trusts.
Ambulance response times, which are tracked regionally instead of trust-by-trust, are plotted by MailOnline’s data journalism team, too.
Experts believe the crises in both A&E and routine surgeries is being exacerbated by so-called ‘bed-blockers’, who are medically fit for discharge but have nowhere else to go.
More than 12,000 hospital beds every day are occupied by patients who no longer have a medical need to remain but are unable to leave. The huge scale of the crisis – equivalent to closing 26 entire hospitals – is forcing managers to cancel operations and fuelling ambulance delays as there are so few beds for new admissions.
Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, commended the extraordinary level of detail packed inside for readers.
He said: ‘MailOnline’s NHS Tracker is an important tool where patients in England can access data about their local hospital at the touch of a button.
‘The NHS has never been busier heading into winter.
‘Staff are working incredibly hard to manage the current pressures with plans already in place to manage extra demand on services and through our new elective care reform plan, we will improve waiting times for patients.
‘We continue to work with the government on the 10 year health plan to make the NHS fit for the future.
‘We welcome ideas from the public, patients and staff as part of the biggest conversation about the NHS via Change.nhs.uk.’
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Plymouth declared critical incidents today, while the panic button was hit at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital last night. NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly sounded the alarm last week.
Critical incidents can be declared when health and care services are so busy that special measures are needed to restore normal operations and keep patients safe.
Bosses at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust warned ‘non-life-threatening conditions will result in long waits’, adding: ‘Beds across both hospitals are full and attendance at our emergency departments is extremely high, which means there is currently no capacity to admit further patients needing our care.’
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust claimed the unsustainable pressures it was grappling were ‘exacerbated by the cold weather’.
A spokesperson said: ‘Our emergency department is currently very full and if you do not have an emergency or life-threatening condition, you may be redirected to other healthcare services.’
Meanwhile, the Royal Bolton Hospital has reintroduced face masks in patient areas to prevent the spread of viruses and infection.
Announcing the measure, a spokesperson added: ‘We are asking for your help to stop the spread of flu and other winter illnesses by wearing a face mask when coming in to patient areas in our hospital, such as wards.
‘We’ll be keeping this temporary measure under review until the peak of flu infections reduce in the coming weeks.’
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs four hospitals in Sussex, has also urged patients and staff on the frontline to don coverings once again.
Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said flu in particular was the ‘straw that is breaking the camel’s back’.
He said: ‘This flu season is not an outlier, but the problem is our emergency care system is so overwhelmed and fragile that a normal flu season – which is what we’ve got at the moment – is creating severe operational difficulties.
‘And it would be a mistake to think that this is solely a result of winter viruses. We have been chronically overloaded and overwhelmed for a number of years.
‘It is a significant flu outbreak, but the problem is there’s just no capacity to deal with it. So it is really a straw that is breaking the camel’s back.’
How our NHS data-tracker works
All the data for MailOnline’s tracker is sourced from NHS England, which publishes monthly performance statistics.
Healthcare targets have been sourced from official NHS guidance.
We have matched NHS trusts to postcodes based on distance, and display the trusts within a 15-mile radius for outer London and a 3-mile radius for inner London. Private providers and some community-based trusts have been excluded.
When entering your postcode into the search bar, this is ordered in alphabetical order of the trusts found within your area, not necessarily your closest trust.
Given the way NHS data is stored, only ‘Type 1’ attendances, or visits to your typical A&E centre are used for the four-hour wait analysis.
For 12-hour waits, all types of A&E are counted, including ‘Type 2’ or speciality A&E wards.
Ambulance response times are recorded by region. We have aligned each individual trust to their regional ambulance service.
