Flu cases at record level as NHS facing a ‘tidal wave’

The NHS is facing a “tidal wave” of illness ahead of Christmas as flu cases reach the highest on record for this time of year, health chiefs have warned.

- REBECCA WHITTAKER

Every day last week 1,717 patients were admitted to hospitals in England with the infection, up 56 per cent on the same week last year, according to NHS England.

Data suggests the entire country could be facing the worst flu season in decades, putting pressure on hospitals just as resident doctors are set to stage another five-day strike over pay and conditions. Members of the British Medical Association (BMA) plan to walk out from 17 to 22 December after the union accused the government of failing to make “sufficient progress towards a viable deal on jobs and pay”.

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, called the strike “irresponsible”, warning that the dates, just before the Christmas bank holidays, represented a “different magnitude of risk” to previous industrial action.