Children’s operations cancelled as super flu piles pressure on intensive care units
Flu surge forces cancellation of children’s operations
- Paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) across the UK are experiencing “severe and sustained pressure” due to a significant spike in flu and other respiratory viruses.
- This surge in admissions has led to the cancellation and delay of children's operations, including cardiac and specialist surgeries, increasing the risk of medical emergencies.
- Medics report that PICUs consistently have more patients than available staff, with units struggling to discharge patients to full paediatric wards, exacerbating bed shortages.
- The pressure is compounded by chronic staffing shortages and acute sickness among healthcare workers, with anecdotal reports of marked severity and mortality from influenza in children.
- The crisis comes amidst warnings from Health Secretary Wes Streeting that planned resident doctor strikes could collapse the NHS, a claim the British Medical Association has dismissed as “scaremongering”.