Swine flu adds to winter pressure

Hospitals and GPs report increasing numbers of patients seeking help. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The number of patients seeking help from hospitals and GPs has spiked as swine flu compounds the usual winter peak of illness in the community.

"We are now seeing an increased demand on some of our vital health services, given the rising number of cases of influenza this winter," the Health Ministry's deputy director of public health, Dr Fran McGrath, said yesterday.

"There's been a significant increase over the last three to four weeks in the numbers of people consulting primary care for influenza-like illness.

"Hospitals are also, anecdotally, reporting in some places an increased number of people turning up at emergency departments."

The weekly rate of GP consultations for flu-like illness has already soared above last winter's highest level, based on reports from a network of "sentinel" clinics to the ministry's scientific advisers for the week to June 21, the latest period reported.

Lab testing of samples, mainly from hospital patients during routine viral diagnosis, found that 208 of 558 influenza viruses were swine flu.

The clinical director of Auckland City Hospital's adults emergency department, Dr Tim Parke, said patient numbers were up.

"We are starting to see a winter spike and we are bracing a little bit for what is going to be a fairly bad winter."

He assumed that some of the spike was down to swine flu, but couldnot be certain, since only thosebeing admitted to a ward andthose in high-risk groups for the infection were being screened for it.