Ambulances face oxygen shortage as “twindemic” piles further pressure on NHS

The NHS is struggling to cope with the “twindemic” of covid and flu, as the number of patients in hospital with flu rose by 80% in a week, the latest data from NHS England show.1 The average number of patients admitted to hospital with flu each day rose from 2088 to 3746 between the second and third weeks of December, while the average number of flu patients in critical care rose from 149 to 267. This is a big rise in comparison with the same time last year (week ending 26 December 2021), when just 34 patients were in hospital with flu, two of whom were in critical care. Bed occupancy is much higher too, with more than 93% of beds filled, compared with 86% in the same period last year. …