Flu surge leaves 31 patients and eight ambulances waiting at Reading A&E

ITV News Meridian's Wesley Smith was given access to Royal Berkshire Hospital's A&E to see how staff are coping.

As we brace for a freezing weekend and a surge in cases of flu, bosses at Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital are warning people to only attend A&E in an emergency.

There's been little let-up in demand since mid-December with an influx of patients on Friday morning (January 3) leaving the hospital under extra pressure.

Some patients had to wait for longer than the target of four hours and ambulances were queuing outside.

With temperatures set to plunge over the next few days people are being urged to prepare and consider other options before heading to the Emergency Department.

By mid-morning staff at the Royal Berkshire Hospital A&E already had more patients than beds.

"We've got 31 patients waiting to be admitted to the hospital, that's 31 beds I can't use because I have patients in them, and I've got eight ambulances queuing outside," said Emergency Medicine Consultant, Omar Nafousi.

"I've got 25 patients waiting at the moment to be seen by us and the wait for us to see patients is only about an hour and a half, so my team is doing a fantastic job trying to stay on the waits."

"But my struggle is getting patients in, off an ambulance into my department so I can do what I need to make them better and discharge them or admit them."

And he predicts it will remains busy for at least another month or two.

The NHS says it's seeing three times the number of flu cases as last year, with 5,000 patients admitted to hospital nationwide at the end of last week.

Hospital Chief Executive, Steve McManus, admits it's putting a strain on waiting time targets.

"So it does fluctuate and I'd like to apologise for those extended waits that some patients will have. We have to prioritise those patients that have got the greatest need or have the greatest vulnerability," said Mr McManus.

"In the middle part of December we were seeing around 20 to 30 people with flu admitted each day, we're now seeing about 50 patients with flu in our beds."

"But again, we're encouraging people who are experiencing those severe respiratory illnesses, if you need our support, the emergency team here at the Royal Berks are ready to support and help."

Late this afternoon the hospital requested visitors to wear masks and avoid coming in if aware of flu-like symptoms.

Announcing plans for reforming social care today, The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, says his plans should eventually help ease A&E backlogs.

"As well as our 10 year plan for the NHS and all the reform we're doing there, we also need to reform our social care," said Mr Streeting.

"One of the reasons we why we see A&E departments so busy is because we can't get people out of hospital beds out into the community because of a lack of social care."

In the short term, with an amber weather alert for parts of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire this weekend, people are advised to be prepared and try to avoid using Emergency Departments unless absolutely necessary.

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