NHS pressures: What's happening at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust?

The NHS in England is under increasing pressure, with record waiting lists, extended ambulance delays and rocketing flu patient numbers just some of the challenges facing the service.

Here is the situation at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust:

Flu patients

The latest NHS England figures show there were 74 flu patients being treated by West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as of January 1 – up from 43 the week before.

Of them, 66 were in general and acute wards, while a further eight were patients in critical care.

It represents an increase from the start of the winter – one patient was being cared for at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust on November 14, the earliest available figures for this winter.

Health research centre the King's Fund said: "The NHS was struggling before the rise in flu cases, so there is a lot more needed in resources, funding and investment so that services can deal with the same problems should they arise in the future."

It also encouraged people to take the flu vaccine, which has not been universally taken up by those entitled to the free jab. Sarah Scobie, deputy director of health think tank the Nuffield Trust, said flu cases were especially high in the week before Christmas and suggested they may have peaked this winter, though it is still too early to draw definitive conclusions.

Ambulance delays

Ambulance delays at A&E departments across the country also reached a new high in the week to January 1. At West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust, 36% of the 172 ambulance arrivals took more than an hour, while 71% waited 30 minutes or more.

NHS targets state trusts should complete 95% of all ambulance handovers in 30 minutes, with all conducted in less than one hour. Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to a school in London, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "We are supporting NHS staff with billions of pounds of extra funding, but in particular this winter, what we want to do is make sure we move people out of hospitals into social care, into communities.”

Bed occupancy

As of January 1, 93% of the 700 beds across adult and paediatric general and acute wards at West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust were occupied. Of the occupied beds, 628 were for adults beds and 24 for children.

Meanwhile, all of the 19 critical care beds were occupied.

NHS national medical director for England Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: "We knew this winter would be one of the most difficult in the history of the NHS and I want to thank staff for all their hard work in caring for and treating so many patients while dealing with record demand on services, including the enormous pressure from flu and Covid.

"The plans we announced last autumn will help ensure we are in the best place possible to provide care for patients at this incredibly challenging time."