NHS ambulance delays improving - but norovirus levels 'significantly higher' than last year

An increase in norovirus cases is putting pressure on the NHS, even as ambulance delays ease.

Handover times from ambulances remain above NHS targets.

But the share of ambulance handovers in England taking more than 30 minutes averaged 20% in the week to 12 February. This was pretty much identical to the same time last year when they averaged 20.1%.

These are significantly higher than in 2021 (7.1%) or 2020 (12.3%).

The figures are similar for delays of more than 60 minutes, with the same week seeing 6.8% of ambulance handovers taking over an hour, way down from the winter peak of 26.4% during the week of 2 January.

This is an improvement over last year, when the week to 12 February saw 8.1% waiting over an hour but still much worse than 2021 (1.2%) and 2020 (2.1%).

Delays in patients being discharged from hospital also continued their downward trend with 13,122 people ready for discharge on 12 February remaining in hospital, the lowest number since New Year's Day.

Bed occupancy rates also improved during the week to 12 February.

An average of 6.2% of general and acute beds were free at any given time during that week, up from a low of 5.3% on the 10 January.

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Norovirus 'significantly higher'

However, norovirus levels in England remain "significantly higher" than last year with hundreds of hospital beds filled by people with symptoms.

An average of 706 adult hospital beds were occupied last week by patients with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms, according to NHS data.

This is down 5% from 743 in the previous week but is nearly four times the number from this point last year.

Norovirus is the most common infectious cause of vomiting and diarrhoea and spreads easily through contact with someone who has the virus or with contaminated surfaces.

While most people make a full recovery within two or three days, the virus can lead to dehydration, especially among the very young, elderly or those with weakened immune systems.

Analysis: We must keep this improvement in context

Ashish Joshi

Health correspondent

@ashishskynews

This is the third consecutive week where we see winter pressures beginning to ease on the NHS.

But the figures should be kept in context.

Most of the recent averages were so high, well beyond the winter peak, that it would take significant improvement to bring to levels below pre pandemic years.

For example, if we look at ambulance delays of over 30 minutes the average is around 20% in the week to 12 February - pretty much identical to the same time last year but significantly higher than in 2020 or 2021.

But these are “pandemic years” and expected to be low. But if we compare to 2019/20 we will see they are much worse.

Increasing bed capacity does seem to have had an impact.

There was more capacity in the same week to 12 February than in the previous week and better than in similar weeks in 2018 and 2019.

There are still a significant number of flu and norovirus patents in hospital, around 1,500, but the peak of winter respiratory illnesses has passed and that could explain why NHS staff absences have improved by around 33%, currently at around 48, 764 down from 63, 296 during Christmas week.

This is of course good news for Trust leaders, but they will be the first to say the pressure, although less acute, is still significant.

Now the challenge is to tackle those growing waiting lists and with strikes from nurses, ambulance and possibly junior doctors too, it will prove quite challenging.

Covid cases up but flu down

Some 7,209 patients were in hospital in England on 15 February who had tested positive for COVID-19, up 13% on the previous week.

The total had been falling since the start of the year, but this trend came to a halt at the end of January, with numbers rising ever since.

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Ambulance callers may be told to go to GP or pharmacist instead
'Cautious optimism' for NHS despite delays and cancellations

However, the number of flu patients in England has dropped for the sixth week in a row and has now fallen 86% since the start of the year.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director for England, said: "The NHS prepared extensively for winter, including more call handlers, more beds and 24/7 system control centres to manage increased demand, and we will now build on that progress with our plan to help recover urgent and emergency services.

"Patients should continue to seek help when they need it, including using 111 online for minor illnesses or calling 999 in a life-threatening emergency."