Winter pressures on NI health service continue as flu cases soar

Northern Ireland's health services remain under significant pressure with high levels of flu cases “a significant contributory factor”, according to the Department of Health.

Winter pressure is always anticipated but in the last seven days, one patient waited 19 hours in an ambulance before they were admitted to hospital.

1,000 cases of the flu were diagnosed in the week before Christmas 2024 with a Covid wave expected soon.

Dr Alan Stout, British Medical Association, said: "We are only at the beginning of winter. It is bad.

We know the numbers, we see the figures. We hear the stories of ambulance waits, the people in E.Ds. We know how many people are sick in the community.

"Our greatest fear is that this is only the beginning. We know that infection will have been circulating and spread over the Christmas period."

In November, the Health Minister set out a winter preparedness to alleviate pressures including funding for GPs, phone first services and care homes.Those working within the system say long-term solutions are needed.

Dr Stout continued: "A massively impactful plan was always going to be tricky. I do not think the plan was massively impactful and we are seeing evidence of that at the moment.

"What we need is proper system change."

The Department has acknowledged a need to find long-term solutions and said that there is “a serious mismatch between current capacity and demand for care” reiterating their apology to patients who have waited longer than they should.

The Department has also urged those eligible to get their vaccinations after the Public Health Agency (PHA) reported a fall in uptake.Catch up with the latest UTV Live on ITVX

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