NHS hospitals are bringing back pandemic-like measures such as mask requirements and visitor restrictions in a bid to slow down the spread of the quad-demic.
Healthcare providers across the country are said to be buckling under the strain of four winter bugs attacking the public at the same time — flu, Covid, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Flu is the major virus of concern, with hospital cases soaring six-fold in some areas.
Nationally, flu-related hospitalisations are three and a half times what they were at this point last year, according to the latest data.
Some experts are now concerned about a further threat to NHS capacity, amid reports of rising cases of another respiratory virus, called human metapneumovirus (HMPV), which is said to be behind a worrying outbreak in China.
One example of the new, strict measures comes from the Royal Bolton Hospital, where all staff, patients and visitors are now required to wear a mask on site.
Other mask mandates have been introduced by Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
Meanwhile, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust are now restricting visitors from seeing patients.
It comes as multiple NHS hospitals — including Liverpool University Hospital — have declared critical incidents due to soaring demand in A&Es including mammoth 50-hour waits in some emergency departments.
NHS hospitals are bringing back Covid-pandemic measures like mask requirements and visitor restrictions in a bid to slow down the spread of the quademic. Pictured staff King’s College Hospital in 2021
Royal Bolton Hospital is one of those asking all staff, patients and visitors to wear a mask to combat a surge in winter pathogens like flu
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This means trusts can no longer guarantee that critical care can be delivered.
Declaring such an incident can allow hospitals to take measures such as cancelling non-urgent operations and asking staff on leave to return to work to help meet the emergency demand.
Speaking of the mask mandate, Tyrone Roberts, chief nursing officer of the Royal Bolton Hospital, said: ‘We are seeing a high number of flu cases in our hospital, and it’s important that we take steps to address this to protect our patients, staff and visitors, as for some people flu can be a very serious illness.
‘We’re 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.’
He added that the Trust expected mask measures to continue until flu cases peaked in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile Oliver Zuzan, medical director at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said of its ‘critical incident’: ‘We have taken this action to support the safe care and treatment of our patients, which is our absolute priority.
Patients at Royal Liverpool University Hospital emergency department are facing mammoth 50-hour waits hospital bosses warned as it faces a wave of people struck down by respiratory illnesses like flu
‘Colleagues are working incredibly hard to treat people as quickly as possible, however some people will experience longer waits while we treat our sickest patients.’
It was joined by a number of trusts across the country, with NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly also having declared a critical incident on Friday last week.
Margaret Garbett, chief nurse at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘This significant and sustained pressure is due in part to exceptional numbers of patients with flu requiring admission to hospital, this has now reached 311 inpatients and measures including mask-wearing in all departments is also being introduced.’
In a fresh statement, NHS National Medical Director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said demand on hospitals is showing ‘no signs of letting up’.
‘The latest data shows flu cases skyrocketed to around 5,000 a day in hospitals at the end of last year and multiple trusts across the country declaring incidents to help them to manage additional strain on services,’ he said.
‘On top of flu hospitals are also seeing continual pressure from Covid, RSV and norovirus cases, as the “quad-demic” continues to increase pressure across services.’
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‘Anyone who needs medical support should continue to use services as normal – the NHS website, NHS 111 and 111 online are available if you need advice and support for health conditions, community services like GPs and pharmacies are open as usual for help and advice, while you can use 999 or attend A&E in life-threatening emergencies.’
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital said it had made the ‘difficult’ decision to reduce visiting in hospitals due to the rising numbers of flu, Covid and other winter illnesses.
It added that exemptions apply, such as when a patient is dying, being given a life-limiting diagnosis, needs support communicating or is a child, and for birthing partners.
Paula Gardner, interim chief nursing officer from the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: ‘This will protect our most vulnerable patients and reduce the rising spread of infections. We are also asking all patients, visitors and staff to wear masks and practise good hand hygiene.
At Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford no visiting is permitted in the emergency department, acute medical unit, except for patients receiving end-of-life care, the trust added.
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has put additional visiting restrictions in place due to the rising number of cases of norovirus, flu, RSV and Covid in hospitals.
Experts have cautioned that hMPV, which produces flu-like symptoms, can lurk in the body for days and so it can be easily passed on to others
For all adult inpatient areas, visiting hours have been reduced to 3pm to 6pm; for all areas including wards and the emergency department, a maximum of one visitor at a time is allowed who must be aged over 12. Restrictions are also in place for paediatrics.
Additional visiting may be allowed on compassionate grounds, and the trust added this should be discussed and arranged with the ward.
All visitors will be required to wear a mask in clinical areas.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said it will only permit patients to be accompanied by one person in all areas of the emergency department to prevent further spread of the flu.
It added that it may restrict visiting due to outbreaks of flu, Covid and RSV, and advised people to check with the ward before visiting.
Despite the rising pressures, latest official data shows just under one in four frontline healthcare workers in England have had the flu vaccine this year.
It comes amid concern that another winter virus hMPV could also pile additional pressure on NHS services in the coming weeks.
Official data shows one in 10 children tested for respiratory infections in hospital were positive for hMPV as of December 23.
Graphic shows the common symptoms (green tick), occasional and possible symptoms (orange circle) and the symptoms that never occur (red cross) with the common cold, flu and Covid
This is more than double the proportion of very young children that tested positive for hMPV in late November.
While hMPV mostly causes a mild illness that is similar to the common cold, very young children, alongside the elderly and those weakened immune systems like cancer patients, are at increased risk of severe illness.
Concerns came after distressing footage of Chinese hospitals being flooded with hMPV patients.
However, UK officials say levels in Britian are currently what would be expected for this time of year.
The latest NHS data, which covers the week up to December 29, show some 4,500 beds were taken up by flu patients every day last week, up 3.5 times on the same week last year.
Of these, 211 were in critical care — up 69 per cent on the previous week.
More than 4,100 Brits also spent Christmas Day in hospital with the flu. By December 29, this had risen to over 5,000.
Rates of the winter vomiting bug norovirus, meanwhile, are also 40 per cent higher than expected for this time of year.
Experts have warned that the situation could get worse before it gets better as Brits fall ill from cold weather and from infection with viruses caught during socialising over the festive period heaping more potential pressure on NHS services.
