Northern Ireland's health service is under intense strain due to a combination of early flu season and high RSV cases, leading to long waits at emergency departments.
Northern Ireland 's health service continues to experience 'severe pressure' due to an earlier start to the annual flu season and high numbers of respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV ) cases. According to the Public Health Agency (PHA), almost 1,000 new cases of influenza were diagnosed here in the week between Christmas and New Year.
This surge has resulted in significant disruption to emergency care services across NI with all emergency departments (EDs) experiencing lengthy waits over the last week. In its latest respiratory surveillance report from January 2, the PHA says that during week 52 (December 23-29), influenza, RSV and Covid-19 activity decreased across the majority of surveillance indicators. But the PHA warned that these changes in surveillance indicators should be interpreted with caution in light of changes in social mixing behaviour over the Christmas period (including schools and many workplaces being closed), and changes in healthcare service use during this time. The number of new influenza episodes decreased in week 52, with 923 unique episodes identified, down from 1,125 episodes reported in week 51. The number of new RSV episodes also decreased with 142 unique episodes identified, down from 183 episodes the previous week. The highest influenza and RSV episode rates were in the 0-4 age group. Ards and North Down had the highest influenza episode rate in week 52 while Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon had the highest RSV episode rate. The number of new COVID-19 episodes decreased in week 52, with 51 episodes identified compared to 72 the previous week. The highest COVID-19 episode rate in week 52 was in Mid and East Antrim and in the 75+ age grou
HEALTH FLU RSV NORTHERN IRELAND HOSPITAL
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