THE rising number of swine flu patients is swamping available beds at the region’s only specialist unit to treat critically- ill victims of the virus.

The warning, from the doctor in charge of the unit, coincided with confirmation that the surge in flu cases and other seasonal illnesses is causing routine operations in the region’s hospitals to be cancelled.

More and more intensive care beds are having to be set aside for swine flu victims, who tend to be in their 30s, 40s or even younger, increasing the pressure on NHS resources.

New flu figures due today are expected to show another rise in cases.

In the past month, the ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) unit at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital has expanded from two to five places in response to the rapid growth in swine flu victim numbers.

Now it is part of a national network of 21 “last resort”

specialist beds where patients suffering from respiratory failure can be kept alive in the hope their lungs will recover.

ECMO is a kind of artificial lung which processes a patient’s blood so that carbon dioxide is removed and oxygen is added.

Last night, Dr Jon Smith, the lead ECMO doctor at the Freeman, said: “I would say that from a national point of view we are very close to capacity most days.

“These are extraordinarily sick patients. We are having to make some pretty difficult decisions about who gets sent where and who gets the next space available.”

The consultant cardiothoracic anaesthetist said: “There is a huge burst of H1N1 (swine flu) marching up the country.

“There are many more people being referred for ECMO treatment than they are used to, and there are not the ECMO beds that would appear to be required at the minute.”

The consultant said this was because there had been “a total sea-change” in the number of patients developing severe respiratory failure as a result of contracting swine flu.

Three adult H1N1 patients are on ECMO in Newcastle.

All of them correspond to the typical swine flu victim profile of being relatively young.

ECMO is recommended for the most seriously ill patients where conventional ventilation is no longer oxygenating their blood.

Seven English hospitals, including the Freeman, have ECMO units and referrals are handled by a team in Leicester, where ECMO was pioneered in the UK.

The Freeman was planning to set up an adult ECMO unit later this year, but it was forced to bring its plans forward because of the increase in swine flu patients with severe respiratory failure.

While Mr Smith acknowledged ECMO was a last resort, he said a UK medical trial last year suggested that about two-thirds of patients would survive.

He said it was quite difficult to see how the country’s ECMO capacity could be increased dramatically without “an extraordinary change in policy”.

The last figures to be released by the Health Protection Agency, on New Year’s Eve, showed that levels of seasonal flu were continuing to increase, with swine flu being the predominant strain.

The agency said that 39 people had died of flu this season, including 36 who were infected with H1N1 swine flu strain.

And there were 48 people with swine flu in intensive care beds in the North-East.

Last night, a spokesman for NHS North-East said that some routine operations had been cancelled in some hospitals across the region because of the surge in seasonal illnesses.

Mike Proctor, deputy chief executive of York Hospital, said: “This hospital is under huge pressure. There is a big increase in flu-like illnesses – significantly worse than last year.”

A spokeswoman for Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust said: “In keeping with the regional picture, our critical care unit has experienced an increase in admissions related to flu-like illness.

“The trust has cancelled a small number of operations for patients who would have needed to stay on the critical care unit. This is being reviewed daily.”