Swine flu surge to fill children's intensive care beds

A surge in swine flu this winter could hit intensive care beds in children’s hospitals.

Children are one of the most seriously affected groups when it comes to swine flu and now concern is being raised that there may not be enough intensive care beds to care for them.

There are currently 303 intensive care beds for children spread across 25 regional centres, including Bristol.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge predict that 3.8 per cent of the UK’s under 15 year olds admitted to hospital for swine flu would need critical care.

Should the number of children admitted to hospital be higher than planned for, almost all the beds are likely to be used.

Wales, the South East Coast, and the East of England regions are likely to struggle to cope with bed demand even with the number of predicted admissions.

Local NHS services could also struggle with the demand to get children to vital beds out of their area.

Authors Dr Ari Ercole and Dr D O’Donnell say: “It seems inevitable that PICUs will experience significant additional pressure this winter from admissions due to the pandemic.”

The research will be published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.