NHS data shows hundreds of North East patients are in hospital with flu - an astonishing jump from just a handful six weeks ago.
In mid-November, there were just 11 flu patients across three North East hospital trusts. By New Year's Day, there were an astonishing 295, including 11 requiring critical care. Figures from South Tyneside and Sunderland and County Durham and Darlington are not available.
On November 14 - the first date on which the NHS's daily winter situation reports collected figures for flu patients in hospital beds this winter - there were just 11 patients in beds across the Newcastle Hospitals, Northumbria Healthcare and Gateshead Health NHS Trusts. But by the start of 2023, there were almost 300.
This mirrors a huge national spike in flu cases which has seen this year's flu season dwarf the impact of last year's. NHS bosses explained earlier this week that there were more than 3,700 NHS patients a day in England's hospitals with flu through December. This comes as the NHS faces huge pressures, and with figures also showing that hundreds of hours are being lost to ambulance handover delays - when paramedics are forced to wait to pass on patients to A&Es due to number of patients coming through the doors.,
NHS England data also shows that almost 150 hours were lost to ambulance handover delays on New Year's Day alone - with the majority at the Northumbria Healthcare, South Tyneside and Sunderland and County Durham and Darlington NHS Trusts. At County Durham and Darlington, of the 96 patients arriving at hospital via ambulance, 17 were delayed more than an hour. This led to 43 hours lost to delays.
At the Northumbria Specialist and Emergency Care Hospital, 26 of 90 patients on New Year's Day were delayed for at least an hour, with 31 hours lost. At South Tyneside and Sunderland, there were 34 handover delays of over an hour - and a total of 70 hours lost according to the figures.
However in Gateshead just four of 43 patients waited longer than an hour in an ambulance, and of 97 arrivals by ambulance at Newcastle's RVI, there was not a single wait of longer than an hour, and just four of more than half an hour.
For much of the last year, NHS bosses around the region have been working in hope of reducing handover delays, but this has become an increasingly tricky job as people attend A&E and are admitted to hospital in greater numbers.
The NHS data, published weekly, also shows how hospitals in our region have been operating at around 92% bed capacity. When it comes to general and acute beds, on New Year's Day across the five hospital trusts there were 4,716 beds available, of which 4,336 were occupied.
The issue was particularly pronounced in Gateshead at the QE, where just 11 general and acute beds were unoccupied. 468 out of 479 were in use - a staggering 97% bed occupancy rate.
This comes after health bosses around the region have warned about the pressure the NHS is currently under. Dr Neil O'Brien - executive medical director of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board - said earlier: "In common with the health and care system across the country, our A&E and ambulance services are under huge pressure. We are working hard to ensure that patients who need emergency care are seen as quickly as possible and are prioritising patient care as best we can based on their need.
"The risk of serious illness and hospitalisation from catching flu is very real. Hospitals and critical care units across our region are currently seeing a worrying number of patients being admitted due to the flu virus."
As such, the North East public is still being urged to use services such as the NHS website, 111 phone line and their pharmacist or GP unless they are facing a life or limb-threatening condition.
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