UK flu deaths rise to 50

Eleven more people have died from flu across the UK, taking the total to 50, the Health Protection Agency said today.

Of these, 45 died with swine flu and five with another strain, flu type B.

The deaths are mostly among children and young adults, with five cases in the under-fives and eight cases among those aged five to 14.

Another 33 cases are in people aged 15 to 64.

The figures come as some hospitals have been told to cancel operations to make way for the most seriously ill flu patients.

The NHS is preparing to expand the number of beds available for a highly specialised treatment, which is often seen as a last resort.

Extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) helps patients whose lungs or heart are not working normally and uses an artificial lung to oxygenate blood outside the body.

The main ECMO centre is based at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester but seven UK hospitals in total are currently running ECMO beds.

As of Christmas Eve, 22 ECMO beds were in use across UK, up from five in early December.

Four more beds are now being arranged. Steps are also being taken to expand this number by cancelling planned operations at some hospitals that provide ECMO.

This will free up cardiothoracic (heart and lung) surgeons and their teams to move across to ECMO, which uses similar skills.

Other hospitals which have specialist respiratory centres and provide intensive care have also been asked to cancel planned operations.

This will ensure that those patients who are stable enough to leave ECMO can move into intensive care beds.

If all ECMO beds become full, plans are in place to expand capacity even further.

A spokeswoman for the National Specialised Commissioning Team said: “This very specialist, high risk, procedure is being provided by highly trained specialists at seven hospitals.

“The NHS continues to monitor the situation carefully and we are taking further steps to increase the number of beds available.

“For instance, hospitals providing respiratory ECMO have been asked to take appropriate measures, including postponing planned cardiac surgery, in order to maximise capacity for patients needing ECMO.

“Hospitals which have specialist respiratory centres are also being requested to suspend elective surgical work, that requires ICU (intensive care) support, to ensure capacity is available for the repatriation of stable patients from the national ECMO service.

“In addition new advice was issued to the NHS before Christmas to ensure there is additional capacity if all nationally designated ECMO beds are in use.”

The spokeswoman said ECMO is “only used as a matter of last resort in exceptional cases”.

Strategic health authorities (SHAs) have been asked to identify appropriate cardiac surgery centres (whose staff do not normally provide ECMO) which may be asked to provide a limited ECMO service.

Earlier today, further details emerged of people who have died from flu.

Among them is 32-year-old Sarah Applin, of Thurston, Suffolk, who died following swine flu complications two weeks after giving birth to a son.

Staff said Mrs Applin died at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds on Tuesday.

Her parents, Jane and Barry Waterman, said: “Our daughter ... sadly died ... of complications with pneumonia following treatment for swine flu.

“We would like to strongly urge any person on the at-risk register, especially pregnant woman, to have the flu vaccination.”

Family members said Mrs Applin gave birth to son William by Caesarean section on December 22.

Mrs Applin and her husband Richard also had a four-year-old daughter.

Another woman, 45-year-old Julie Roberts, a school attendance worker from Liverpool, died on Monday.

Mother-of-two Hilary Robinson, 37, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, died on Christmas Eve of complications understood to be connected to the illness.

Ms Robinson, a hairdresser, had gone to the walk-in centre at Ormskirk Hospital around midday on Christmas Eve. She was then taken to Southport Hospital where she later died.

The Government has admitted that some parts of the country are suffering shortages of flu vaccines.

Suppliers have been asked to contact their factories in Europe for a count of UK-licensed vaccines after the Government admitted it was considering bringing in supplies.

There is no central stockpile of seasonal flu vaccines, which are ordered every year by GPs and delivered to surgeries.

The Department of Health has insisted there is “no national shortage” but admitted some areas were experiencing “local supply issues”.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said there were “no supply issues” in Scotland.

According to the UK Vaccine Industry Group, 14.7 million doses of flu vaccine have been delivered across the UK, with 4% of those stocks going to private companies.