Child critically ill with flu at Sheffield Children’s hospital, reveal officials

Official figures released by the NHS show that four patients were put into critical care in the city’s hospitals with flu during the week before Christmas, as the number of patients continued to rise. Three of the cases were at hospitals run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, and one was at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

The previous week had only seen one patient in critical care in the city, and the overall number of people in hospital with the illness has also risen, while hospitals are also having to battle the illness with staff numbers also reduced by the disease.

According to the figures, 53 patients were in hospital at the venues run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, which includes the Northern General, and the Hallamshire, during the week from December 12 to 18. That had risen to 64 for the week from December 19 to 25.

It rose from three to five in the children’s hospital over the same period, with one child in critical care in each week.

Meanwhile, the number of staff having to stay away from work was also up.

The average daily number of staff absences at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals from December 12 to 18 was 1,379. But that had risen to 1,432 during the week from December 12 to 18.

Sheffield Children’s Hospital saw similar pressures, with a daily average of 251 staff absent from December 12 to 18, compared to 261 the following week.

Last October, Sheffield mum Leah Reynolds urged parents to get their children vaccinated against flu, after her own daughter was among those struck by the illness.

Leah’s daughter, Isla, had gone floppy and lethargic and had a spiking temperature. She was coughing up mucus and coughing until she was red in the face. When she noticed she was really struggling to breathe, the worried mum took her to A&E as she was highly concerned for her health.

Leah, from Eckington, said: “Seeing Isla in this condition was terrifying.”

“I would suggest that parents really consider allowing their child to have the flu vaccine. Isla unfortunately caught flu before I was able to take her for the vaccine and she ended up in hospital as her symptoms were that bad.”

Visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/child-flu-vaccine/ for more information on children’s flu vaccines.

Early in December, a ward was put into lockdown at the Northern General because of flu.

Thousands of beds were occupied by flu patients in England last week, with hundreds receiving critical care treatment, latest health figures show.

In the seven days to 25 December, 3,746 beds were occupied each day on average because of flu, according to data published by NHS England. This is a 79 per cent rise on the week before when 2,088 were in hospital. There were also hundreds of seriously ill flu patients receiving critical care. On average acute trusts were treating 267 people in critical care each day.

Health bosses say in December the number of patients in hospital with flu in England “skyrocketed” with admissions overtaking those for Covid earlier in the month.