HEALTH workers are key to plans to get the NHS back on its feet, said Unison, after new figures today revealed unprecedented demand on the health service.

NHS England data has shown an average of 5,408 flu patients were in beds in England each day last week — up 21 per cent from the previous week and nearly five times the number on December 1.

An average of 626 hospital beds in England were also filled each day last week by patients with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms, up from 528 the previous week and higher than the equivalent figure at this point last winter (424) and two years ago (435).