Wear a face mask if you feel ill, public told as hospitals face record flu surge ...Middle East

People with symptoms of flu should consider wearing a face mask in public as a huge surge in hospitalisations pushes the NHS to breaking point.

The Government is being urged to offer free flu jabs to younger people following concern over the unprecedented wave of infections caused by a “nasty” mutation.

Ministers are facing serious questions about “under-preparedness” for this year’s flu season from health experts, care home bosses and MPs.

Schools across the UK are reporting dozens of children being absent due to flu while care homes are concerned about loved ones spreading the infection among their vulnerable, older residents.

Several NHS trusts are asking visitors to wear face masks in high-risk parts of hospitals. Some have also asked anyone with flu symptoms to avoid visiting hospitals.

Public Health Scotland has advised anyone with flu symptoms to stay away from work, school, or hospitals until they are better. 

“If you have flu-like symptoms… try to limit contact with others, especially those at higher risk,” said Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, a consultant epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

“Wash your hands regularly, keep indoor spaces well-ventilated and if you need to go out while unwell, consider wearing a face mask.”

The ‘nasty’ flu strain

A mutating flu strain known as H3N2 is behind the unusually early start to the season.

“It’s nasty,” said Prof Antonio Ho, an infectious diseases expert at Glasgow University on the H3N2 strain. “People around me who have had it have been floored for weeks.”

The UKHSA insisted that the vaccine is still providing “strong protection” despite the new strain. It is currently 70 to 75 per cent effective at preventing hospital attendance in children and 30 to 40 per cent effective in adults – similar to most years, the public health body said.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is facing calls to bring the age eligibility for the free jab down from 65 to 50, as well as starting next year’s vaccine rollout much earlier.

The Government has also been urged to do more to combat “fatigue” among frontline health and social care staff over getting the flu vaccine themselves, which has left vulnerable patients at risk.

An average of 1,717 flu patients were in hospital beds in England each day last week – 56 per cent higher than the equivalent numbers for the same week in 2024.

This year’s flu season started earlier than usual and is yet to reach a peak, meaning pressure on hospitals is set to grow even more intense in the run-up to Christmas.

The NHS is braced for “an unprecedented flu wave” that “may stretch our staff close to breaking point in the coming weeks”, according to Professor Julian Redhead, its national medical director for urgent and emergency care.

‘Common sense’ to lower age for flu jabs

Free flu jabs are available for everyone aged 65 and over. They are also available for the under 65s in clinical risk groups, frontline health and social care workers, care home residents, pregnant women and children.

Care home chiefs want the Government to expand eligibility down to those aged 50 and over, since many in this age cohort will be visiting parents or relatives.

“It is a concern that people [in their 50s] are visiting elderly loved ones in care homes,” said Nadra Ahmed, co-chair of the National Care Association, which represents small and medium-sized care providers.

“It would be welcome if people in their 50s were eligible [for the flu jab]. It would be a sensible change,” she added.

Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group, said it would be “common sense” to lower the age of eligibility. “It can be a worrying time for families, because if people move into hospital, they can pick up other things.”

Questions have also been asked about how late the flu vaccine was rolled out. It was available to pregnant women and children from 1 September, but other adults could not get it until 1 October.

Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said starting the programme in September for everyone “would have protected more people before the early wave”.

Covid change has ‘added to pressure on hospitals’

The National Pharmacy Association also said this year’s change in eligibility for the Covid vaccine – pushing the age up from 65 to 75 and over – had left many older people unprotected.

“This has no doubt contributed to the pressure on hospitals, as more people fall ill,” said Picard.

He said “poor communication” and faults in the NHS national booking system had created confusion about the Covid jab among those aged between 65 and 75.

“This led some disappointed patients to confront pharmacy staff, who were entirely blameless and doing their utmost to help,” Picard added.

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, representing hospitals and ambulance services, said it was “time to rethink whether more people should be eligible for flu and Covid-19 vaccinations”.

Flu jab uptake among key workers remains a problem, say health experts – despite a “SOS” warning from NHS bosses last month.

Fewer than 30 per cent of social care sector staff have got the flu vaccine in recent years, research suggests. Only 37.5 per cent of health care workers in NHS trusts got the flu jab in the 2024-2025 winter season – down from 42.8 per cent the previous year.

And fewer than one in 10 frontline healthcare staff have been vaccinated at some NHS trusts so far this year, according to a report in the Health Service Journal.

‘Vaccine fatigue’ among frontline staff

Prof Ho is worried that complacency about vaccines after the Covid crisis has led to low uptake among frontline workers.

She said the Government and NHS should “urgently” tackling “vaccine fatigue” among both health and social care staff. “The numbers are really bad.”

She suggested the jab should be available wherever those staff work, as well as making it available outside of working hours to make it as convenient as possible.

The Department of Health and Social Care has written to care providers, recommending that they offer flu vaccination to all staff directly.

But care home chiefs said the NHS could do more to increase take-up.

“It would be common sense that when NHS staff come to vaccinate care home residents, they take the opportunity to offer it to all staff too,” said NCA co-chair Ahmed.

Flu season has ‘caught the NHS by surprise’

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, chair of the health select committee, said “serious questions need to be asked about preparedness” for the winter. She said the worse-than-usual flu strain “seems to have caught the NHS a little bit by surprise”.

Moran said expanding flu jab eligibility to a wider group of older adults “needs to be something the Government and NHS looks at”, as well as considering an earlier start to the vaccination programme next year.

Urging greater convenience for frontline staff, she added: “We need common sense interventions to make it easier for social care workers to get the flu vaccine to increase uptake.”

Joe Robertson, a Conservative MP who also sits on the health committee, said restricted age eligibility and the late start to the adult vaccine programme had contributed to “under-preparedness” for flu season.

He urged a rethink on how to make the programme much more widespread “as attempts to save money in the short term will lead to greater cost in the long term”.

However, Prof Ho said the Government had to consider “cost-effectiveness” when it came to expanding age eligibility for the flu jab, given limited financial resources.

“I don’t feel extending it down would have been useful, given the priority is to focus on the highest risk groups,” she said.

Flu wave could cause ‘big problems’ for hospitals

The latest NHS situation report also showed that 30 per cent of patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England last week waited at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams.

Dr Ian Higginson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said A&E departments were “in trouble before flu season”.

“The straw that breaks the camel’s back is not the right analogy anymore, because the camel’s back is already broken.”

The number of hospital admissions from flu in Scotland has also surged, increasing by 70 per cent in the last week, according to the latest official figures.

Australia, Japan and India have all faced a tough flu season already due to the same strain in the UK.

The UKHSA’s Dr Lopez Bernal said he expected to see flu circulating “more widely in the lead up to Christmas” with a potential peak over the festive period and the New Year.

The Government has been approached for comment.

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