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Emergency services across Sydney on Monday recorded one of their busiest winter days, with a record 4100 ambulance callouts and almost 10,000 emergency department presentations.
Western Sydney hospitals were among the hardest hit.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the state would see continued presentations for flu-like illness throughout winter.
“Influenza can also cause complications for people with comorbidities,” he said. “If someone with a co-morbidity gets influenza, the likelihood that they end up in the hospital is far greater than someone who just gets influenza on their own.”
There were about 1000 more emergency department presentations than usual.
NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce said dozens of patients were redirected to various hospitals on Monday to ease pressure on overflowing emergency departments.
“The west, south-west, Nepean in particular were very, very busy last night (Monday),” Pearce said, with Park also pointing to Blacktown, Bankstown, Campbelltown and Liverpool hospitals as particular hotspots.
Both Pearce and Park apologised to the patients and families who experienced long waits or were treated on the floor of waiting rooms.
It comes despite flu and COVID-19 cases remaining relatively stable – especially compared to last winter. Health authorities expect case numbers to rise now that children have returned to school.
There were more than 2500 positive laboratory tests for influenza, the latest weekly surveillance report shows. The real number is significantly higher.
Park pointed to the 270 beds across western and south-western Sydney occupied by patients who are medically ready to be discharged but awaiting a federal government-funded place in an aged care or NDIS program.
“That is the equivalent of a hospital not being able to be used,” he said, estimating 1300 people were affected.
NSW Health chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said influenza can “be that straw that broke the camel’s back” for people with underlying health conditions, including diabetes and lung disease, and urged the community to ask their GP about preventative health advice.
“It’s not too late in the season to get vaccinated,” she said. “In previous years, the pattern of when these respiratory viruses peak changes. Last year we saw quite a late peak of influenza … into that December period, which was quite unusual. So it’s not too late.”
She said early indications have shown that this year’s flu vaccine is a better match for the influenza strain that’s currently circulating, predominantly h3n2 subclade k.
Premier Chris Minns told 2GB it would be the worst three weeks of the year for emergency departments and warned people not to attend unless they were experiencing an actual emergency.
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