THE flu outbreak is causing severe problems for Sussex

hospitals, with operations

cancelled to release beds,

surgeons too sick to work and theatre recovery rooms being used to care for the sick.

The Government's chief medical

officer, Prof Liam Donaldson, today

warned Britain faces a full-scale flu

epidemic with cases peaking in the next week.

At the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton half the surgical staff have developed flu or flu-like symptoms during the past two weeks. The hospital has seen a 46 per cent increase in medical staff sickness in the past three months.

Spokesman Ian Keeber said: "There has been a lot of staff sickness and a lot of that is flu. But we are coping, miraculously."

Latest figures show on New Year's Day the Royal Sussex County admitted 77 patients - 40 per cent more than on the same day last year and nearly twice the daily average of 40. Last Thursday the Trust had seven beds free out of more than 600.

At Worthing Hospital an

operating theatre recovery room is being used to cope with flu

victims.

The high number of elderly people living in the coastal area, who are vulnerable to flu complications, has added to the pressure on beds.

Last week six beds were opened for flu victims in a room usually used for patients to recover from operations.

Last week the Argus told how both Eastbourne and Hastings hospitals were storing up to 60 bodies in refrigerated containers because the flu outbreak was causing a sharp rise in deaths.

Chris Randall, spokesman for Eastbourne Hospital, said: "The number is going down. I think

it was about 60 and it is now

about 23. Hopefully, we will no longer have a need for it by the end of this week.

"Clearly we are still

getting higher than the normal number of people ill. People don't come in because of flu, they come in from complications arising from it. We are working very hard to cope."

Other hospitals at Brighton, Hastings, Chichester, Haywards Heath, Crawley, Horsham, and Eastbourne are busy coping with people suffering from complications such as chest

problems.

It is thought the recent big increase in flu victims may have been caused by people who sat out their problems at home during the Christmas break when GP surgeries were shut and emerged as patients needing urgent treatment.

The double blow of staff sickness means hospital managers across East and West Sussex cannot open extra beds.

The flu epidemic sweeping the country is claiming the lives of people of all ages and levels of fitness.

As busy doctors urged flu sufferers not to take up their time with unnecessary visits it was revealed that a former Welsh international rugby player died hours after being sent home from hospital with suspected flu symptoms.

Super-fit Kieron Gregory, 33, who played for Tredegar Rugby Club, was admitted to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, south Wales, on Friday.

His mother, Joan, said: "He could hardly breathe.

"I know the hospitals are snowed under with people suffering from flu but he was sent home to die."

She added: "They looked at him and saw a big, fit, handsome young man but they couldn't see through that to how ill he really was."

Club Secretary Lisa Wheatman is reported as saying: "Kieron had complained of flu for a couple of weeks.

"It is awful when someone so young and so fit can suddenly die like that."

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