Syndromic surveillance summary: 17 November 2022 week 45
Updated 5 January 2023
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Reporting week 45: 7 November to 13 November 2022
During week 45, a range of acute respiratory infection indicators increased particularly in children aged 5 to 14 years and there were further increases noted in emergency department attendances for influenza-like illness in adults. Further decreases were observed across COVID-19-like syndromic indicators.
Remote health advice syndromic surveillance system
During week 45, NHS 111 calls and online assessments for a range of syndromic respiratory indicators increased, particularly in children aged 1 to 4 and 5 to 14 years. Of note, cold and flu calls and online assessments increased sharply. There were also increases observed in ‘potential COVID-19’ calls and online assessments in the 5 to 14 years age group during week 45.
Access the remote health advice syndromic surveillance bulletins on GOV.UK
GP in hours syndromic surveillance system
During week 45, GP in-hours consultation rates for upper respiratory tract infections increased, particularly in children aged 5 to 14 years. ‘Pharyngitis or scarlet fever’ and scarlet fever consultations increased in children. There were further small decreases observed in COVID-19-like consultations during week 45.
Access the GP in hours syndromic surveillance bulletins on GOV.UK
GP out of hours syndromic surveillance system
Daily GP out-of-hours contact data from 4 August 2022 onwards has not been received due to a widely publicised disruption faced by one of the GP out-of-hours clinical software system providers. We have since been informed that this disruption was as a result of a cybersecurity incident caused by ransomware. We are working closely with our data provider to restore the daily syndromic feed.
Access the GP out-of-hours syndromic surveillance bulletins on GOV.UK
Emergency department syndromic surveillance system
During week 45, emergency department (ED) attendances for acute respiratory infections increased nationally, particularly in children aged 1 to 4 and 5 to 14 years. There were further increases in influenza-like-illness attendances across adult age groups. Acute bronchiolitis attendances stabilised in children aged 1 and under, but continued increasing in the 1 to 4 years age group. COVID-19-like attendances continued to decrease during week 45.
Access the emergency department syndromic surveillance bulletins on GOV.UK
Ambulance syndromic surveillance system
During week 45, difficulty breathing ambulance calls increased nationally. There has been a further decrease in the COVID-19-like syndromic indicator due to changes across all ambulance trusts now using alternative codes. Therefore, from week 46 the ambulance COVID-19-like indicator will not be presented in this report as it is no longer in use.
Access the ambulance syndromic surveillance bulletin on GOV.UK