Commenting on the final weekly sitrep for this winter, Professor Julian Redhead, NHS England's National Clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care, said: "Today's figures highlight just how hard staff across the NHS have worked this winter in the face of significant demand and ongoing industrial action, with more than 1.7 million people taken to hospitals by ambulance since the week ending 26 November - 260,000 more than the same comparable period a year ago - and 7.2 million calls answered by NHS 111, hundreds of thousands more than last winter.

"We know the colder months are always a time of increased pressure, which is why we started planning for winter earlier than ever before - including putting more ambulances on the roads, employing more call handlers, and opening hundreds more beds - and those measures have paid off, with today's data showing there were 1,531 more adult G&A beds open last week compared to the same week a year ago, while the number of patients not discharged when medically fit was the lowest so far this year at 12,015.

"While the data shows numbers continue to come down, seasonal viruses are still a concern with 1,394 patients in hospital with Covid every day last week, 837 patients in hospital each day with flu - almost three times the number this time last year - and 533 patients in hospital each day with norovirus, resulting in an additional 135 empty beds having to be closed for infection prevention reasons. As ever, we encourage anyone who needs medical care to seek help in the usual way – NHS 111 online for urgent advice, and by calling 999 in emergencies.”

Background:

• The weekly winter sitrep data can be viewed online here, covering the period between the week ending 26 November 2023 and the week ending 31 March 2024
• NHS 111 call handlers answered 435,010 calls last week (59.6% within 60 seconds), the highest so far this year and the second-highest all winter (444,285 in the w/e Dec 31). In the same week last year 337,318 calls to 111 were answered, 48.1% within 60 secs
• Today's data shows calls to NHS 111 increased significantly over the Bank Holiday weekend - Friday 29 March saw 84,723 calls answered - 70% more than the day before (49,605). Over the three days data is available for (Friday to Sunday) 239,173 calls were answered
• Between the week ending 26 November 2023 and the week ending 31 March 2024, 7,217,870 calls to NHS 111 were answered. The previous winter (from the week ending 27 Nov 2022 to week ending 2 April 2023) 6,367,117 calls were answered
• In the week ending 31 March 2024, there were an average of 837 patients in hospital each day with flu (including 35 in critical care), compared with 274 in the same week last year. This is down from 1,037 the week ending 24 March
• A total of 533 patients were in hospital with norovirus each day last week, down from last week (556) however higher number of beds closed (135 compared with 110 week before)
• Last week there were 1,394 patients in hospital with Covid-19
• There were 92,662 people taken to hospitals by ambulance in the week ending 31 March, up on the week before (91,321)
• Last week 18,628 hours were lost to handover delays
• Adult G&A bed occupancy was 94.4% last week
• There were 96,449 adult G&A beds open last week - 1,531 more than the same time last year (94,918)
• Last week 12,015 people who were medically fit to be discharged remained in hospital each day, the lowest since Christmas and NY
• There were an average 43,603 staff absent each day last week, the lowest all winter