Hampshire health services draft in extra staff to cope with flu-related calls

The GP Out of Hours service, covering Southampton, Portsmouth, and southern Hampshire, was bombarded by thousands of people with flu-like symptoms.

On Tuesday, the service dealt with 1,735 calls in just six hours – just short of the total 1,768 calls taken for that 24-hour period last year.

The previous day there was a 61 per cent increase on total calls compared with the same date last year, compared with a 25 per cent increase on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

A spokeswoman for Solent Healthcare, which provides community health services throughout Southampton, Portsmouth and parts of Hampshire, said: “It is an unprecedented amount of calls. It is extremely busy, we have as many clinicians in as possible, there’s a backlog in the calls, but we’re trying to get to patients as quickly as possible.”

Health Protection Agency figures for the South Central Strategic Health Authority area, which includes Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, reveal the rate of people visiting their GP for flu-like illnesses in the week ending December 23 more than tripled on the previous week to 71 per 100,000 people – below the national average of 87.1.

Health officials have urged elderly people, pregnant women and those with conditions such as diabetes, asthma and chronic heart disease to get a flu jab from their GP.