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21 November 2024: COVID-19 positivity metrics not updated

A technical issue has prevented UKHSA from updating COVID-19 positivity. Work is underway to resolve the issue and resume reporting as soon as possible. The data presented was last updated on 7 November 2024.

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Influenza change in admission rate of new patients compared with last 7 days

Last updated on Wednesday, 9 October 2024 at 01:18pm

Summary

Topic
Influenza
Category
headline
API name
influenza_headline_hospitalAdmissionRateChange

Rationale

Seasonal influenza occurs every year and is a key driver for winter pressure on the NHS. The impact of influenza on the NHS depends on several factors: which strains of the virus are circulating and who is most likely to be affected, how effective the annual vaccine is, how many people are immunised, and winter temperatures.

Understanding rates and patterns of hospital admissions can help to inform planning around hospital pressures including beds and staffing.

Definition

This metric shows the change in the rate per 100,000 people of the total number of people with confirmed influenza admitted to hospital in the last 7 days compared to the previous 7 days.

Methodology

Updates from SARI Watch are published in the UKHSA National Influenza and COVID-19 Surveillance Report on a Friday (weekly during influenza season and fortnightly in the summer months), and contains data up to the previous Sunday.

This metric shows the change in rate per 100,000 people in the NHS trust catchment population who were admitted to hospital with laboratory-confirmed influenza in the last 7 days. It is calculated by subtracting the rate per 100,000 people in the 7 days prior to the last 7 days from the rate people 100,000 people in the last 7 days. The rate is calculated by counting the number of influenza-related hospital admissions in the 7 day period, dividing by the catchment population of the NHS trust and then multiplying by 100,000.

Regional influenza hospital admission rates reported from 30 September 2024 will use the 4 UKHSA Super Regions instead of the 9 UKHSA Regions. Influenza hospital admissions rates are based on a subset of trusts who voluntarily report. Participating trusts are distributed across England, but due to the voluntary nature of participation, some regions may have lower levels of trust participation. Aggregating admissions rates to larger areas aids interpretation.

For data from previous seasons, data is available by both geography UKHSA Regions and UKHSA Super Regions.

Caveats

Hospital provider trusts do not have geographically defined boundaries for their client population nor do they have all encompassing lists of registered patients. OHID has adopted a proportionate flow method to calculate catchment populations. Using this method, Hospital Episode Statistics (HES APC) data was used to count the number of patients admitted to hospital from every small geographical area in England (based on middle super output area (MSOSA), which are standard geographies of 7,200 people). For each MSOA, the number of patients admitted to each hospital trust was calculated as a proportion of all patients from that MSOA admitted to hospital. this proportion was then applied to the resident population of each MSOA and the resulting population counts added to give an overall hospital catchment population. The catchment year applies to the year of mid-year population estimates used to calculate the population.

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