The latest flu epidemic is hitting working age adults harder, as hospitals see a near 20-fold increase in the total number of bed days taken up by sufferers, new figures from The NHS Information Centre reveal.

The latest flu epidemic is hitting working age adults harder, as hospitals see a near 20-fold increase in the total number of bed days taken up by sufferers, new figures from The NHS Information Centre reveal.

Figures for July 2009 show the number of bed days taken up by flu increased to 3,976 – nearly 20 times higher than the same month in 2008 when the number of bed days taken up by the virus stood at 207.

The preceding months, June and May, also saw increases over 2008 in the number of bed days taken up by flu, at 335 (118 percent) and 113 (26 percent) respectively.

The figures also show that the pattern of bed days occupied by different age groups appears to be changing from 2008.

Whereas in the three months to July 2008, 40 percent of bed days were taken up by the very young (16 or under), this reduced to 31 percent in same period in 2009. Bed days occupied by those aged 60 or over accounted for 40 percent of the total in 2008 but only 22 percent in 2009.

Working age adults (those aged 17 to 59) showed the biggest change in percentage; in the three month to July 2008 they represented 19 percent of all bed days, increasing to 46 percent during the same period in 2009.

Chief executive of The NHS Information Centre Tim Straughan said: “These new figures reveal the rapid increase in the demands on hospitals due to the flu virus in July this year.

“The peak in bed days taken up by flu in July 2009 is especially interesting as this is outside the normal flu season. In the preceding months though increasing slowly; bed days attributed to flu were significantly lower. We will continue to monitor demand for beds to help the NHS gain a better understanding of the pressures caused by the current flu outbreak.”

The figures are part of a new special topic from Provisional Monthly HES for Admitted Patient Care (www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/provisionalmonthlyhes) which is now published monthly to provide up-to-date information and demonstrate approximate trends. Information is provisional, has not been subject to final checks and revisions ahead of annual publication and can be subject to change. This is particularly true of the latest month (July 2009). Previous provisional data has been slightly lower than the final data published in annual publications.

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
  2. HES provisional monthly data can be used for high level, aggregate analysis demonstrating approximate trends in activity. Lower level analysis should be approached with caution as not all activity will be correctly processed until the final annual data is produced.
  3. Bed days - This is the sum of the episode duration for all finished consultant episodes that ended within the month. This field does not include bed days where the episode was unfinished at the end of the month.
  4. Influenza usually strikes between October and May however strains of influenza can occur outside the normal season, such as the recent ‘swine flu' variation. It is not possible to tell accurately how many of influenza related bed days were due to swine flu compared to other strains. This is because there are no codes in ICD-10 that exist to specifically identify swine flu.
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