NHS National Medical Director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said: “This continues to be a challenging winter, with our staff facing a combination of considerable pressures including winter viruses, high bed occupancy and the knock-on effects from strikes, while this week’s cold snap could see a jump in the number of people needing care.” He then added: “There are reasons for optimism, with the hard work of staff paying off to reduce ambulance handover delays.”
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00:00 And we know that two in five people actually don't make an appointment with their GP, even
00:08 if they suspect something might be wrong.
00:13 Sometimes the January blues can be the least of our problems when trying to battle flu
00:17 season and the freezing weather. So when it comes to keeping healthy at this time of year,
00:21 how exactly are you supposed to go on about it?
00:25 The GPs are busy, we know that, but we've actually made huge inroads into the backlog
00:30 that we had during the pandemic and we're catching up. So there are about 200,000 referrals
00:36 every month right now for people with suspicious symptoms. And that's great. So we're getting
00:42 there, but we do need individuals to say, yeah, I'm going to look after myself.
00:48 According to the NHS website, there was an average of almost 4,000 patients hospitalised
00:54 with COVID and almost 1,500 patients in hospital with flu each day of the week ending January
01:00 14. It also stated that demand for beds remained high with around 19 in every 20 adult beds
01:06 occupied. With this in mind, how should you go about taking care of yourself this season?
01:11 Well, according to the NHS website, the best way about treating the flu is to keep warm,
01:16 to rest and to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
01:19 Anything that's not normal for you and hasn't got an explanation, that's really why your
01:24 GP is there. Go and talk to them. So there are these subtle differences that GPs are
01:28 really good at picking out. So if you're not sure, go and get it checked. What have you
01:34 got to lose? Nothing. Go and see your GP. He'll take history from you, find out how
01:39 long it's been going on, what the symptoms are, maybe give you a quick check over.
01:44 NHS National Medical Director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said this continues to be a
01:49 challenging winter with our staff facing a combination of considerable pressures including
01:54 winter viruses, high bed occupancy and the knock-on effects from strikes, while this
01:59 week's cold snap could see a jump in the number of people needing care. He then added there
02:04 are reasons for optimism with the hard work of staff paying off to reduce ambulance handover
02:09 delays. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said that the best way to avoid
02:13 the spread of germs is to wash your hands regularly, to avoid touching your eyes, nose
02:18 and mouth and to stay home when possible.
02:22 And the NHS is there for everybody, that's why it was founded and free at the point of
02:27 contact. So yeah, we need more people to go forward, see the GP, get a friendly reception
02:33 and get referred if it's appropriate and get sorted.
02:36 According to statistics, flu levels are well below those seen last winter when more than
02:41 5,000 people were in hospital with the virus. It was thought to be the UK's worst flu outbreak
02:47 for a decade. On the other hand, it is reported that cases of Neurovirus continue to grow
02:52 as there was an average of 452 patients with diarrhoea and vomiting symptoms in hospital
02:57 each day according to the NHS's weekly update.