Super flu takes grip as Swinney oversees Scots NHS in freefall

SCOTLAND is being battered by a vaccine-resistant 'super flu', with cases rising rapidly across the country.

- BY DAVID WALKER Scottish Politics Reporter

At the same time, the SNP is overseeing a "freefall in the NHS" with patients forced to wait hours at A&E with the worst October ever having been recorded.

John Swinney has been warned he is "costing lives" as he fails to get on top of "pressure-cooker hospitals" where staff are struggling.

One in nine Scots remains on a waiting list, with thousands forking out to go private. And the chaos comes at a potentially deadly time as flu cases have jumped by 45% in the past week, rising from 555 to 805 laboratory-confirmed cases.

In the week ending November 23, the infection rate stood at 14.5 per 100,000 — an increase from 10 per 100,000 the previous week, according to Public Health Scotland (PHS).

More worrying is that hospital admissions have also increased from 279 to 391, as has test positivity, rising from 11.0% to 15.8%.

PHS reports that all age groups are now affected at levels not previously seen this time of year.

Dr Victoria Shotton, a GP based in Glasgow's east end, told the BBC that her surgery was seeing three times the number of patients with flu than last year.

She said: “We are seeing a massive increase in presentations on a daily basis. It has started early this year and is more severe.