FEBRUARY has seen a spike in flu-victims at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital.

Last week, doctors tested a “high number” of people with flu-like symptoms – with 50 people testing positive for the influenza virus.

GWH has warned those who fear they might have flu to stay away from visiting the hospital until they have recovered.

A spokeswoman for GWH said: “As with many hospitals across the country, we have seen an increase in admissions of people suffering from seasonal flu in recent months.

“The flu virus is very infectious and spreads quickly at this time of year. We encourage anyone who has symptoms to stay away from visiting GWH wards until they are completely recovered.

“In many cases, the flu can be treated effectively at home and the NHS recommends that people get plenty of rest, keep warm and stay hydrated.”

GWH’s medical director Dr Guy Rooney took to social media to thank staff in “another tough week” at the hospital. He wrote on Twitter: “Flu is back and a lot of sick people [are] presenting.”

The flu warning came as the latest NHS winter figures for last week appeared to show that pressures on Great Western Hospital are easing:

  •  General and Acute hospital beds were occupied 92.5 per cent of the time last week – the lowest occupancy rate since the start of January.
  • 12 ambulances were left waiting between 30 and 60 minutes to hand over their patients to doctors at the Great Western’s emergency department. The week before, it was 23.
  • There were four beds closed at the very beginning of last week, after norovirus was discovered. It was the first time beds had been closed by the hospital “super-bug” since the first week of January.

Swindon Advertiser:

Weekly bed occupancy rates at GWH since winter monitoring began in November.

Nationally, today's figures from NHS England show that bed occupancy remains high – although some have said that this data is misleading and the true figure could be higher.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, told The Guardian: “NHS England suggests that overall bed occupancy figures have eased a little, but the reality on the frontline is very different. The easing really only reflects that beds in surgical units are empty at midnight when the official data is counted.”