Carrie Johnson has revealed she spent a week in hospital after suffering from flu and pneumonia as England’s emergency services battle their ‘busiest winter ever’.
The wife of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson shared a photo of her in a hospital bed and said she spent the first few days of 2025 in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxfordshire after battling a ‘nasty’ chest infection for almost 18 days.
“It just came out and I was struggling to breathe properly,” she wrote in an Instagram caption.
‘The hospital confirmed that I had flu and pneumonia. I was there almost a week and I still haven’t recovered. It may take a few more weeks before I feel like myself again.’
Carrie then praised the team of staff who helped her during her recovery, calling NHS doctors and nurses ‘the best people on the planet’.
“I say it often, but they took care of me and my family when we needed it most and I will never be beyond grateful for them. They are absolutely the best among us.”
“I was at the John Radcliffe and I can’t thank them enough. When I was particularly down, a nurse even serenaded me at my bedside,” she said.
Carrie also urged people to get the flu shot, saying: ‘I really, really wish I had. I haven’t thought about it at all this year.’
Carrie Johnson has revealed she spent a week in hospital after suffering from flu and pneumonia
Carrie also shared that her children gave her their toys to keep her company while she was in the hospital
Carrie Johnson pictured with husband Boris. She then praised the NHS for treating her
“No guarantee, but I probably wouldn’t have been terribly sick for the last three weeks if I had gotten it,” she added.
The former prime minister’s wife also shared a second photo of a green dinosaur and a heart-shaped princess keyring, which she said belonged to her young children Wilfred and Romy.
‘The second photo is Wilf’s favorite dinosaur toy ‘Greenie’ and Romy’s princess keychain that they gave me to take to the hospital and lived next to my bed. Health and family are everything’.
It comes amid warnings that England’s emergency services are facing their ‘busiest winter on record’ as flu cases continue to rise.
In December, more than 2.3 million patients attended emergency departments, while ambulance teams responded to more than 800,000 incidents – the highest number ever recorded in a single month.
Separate surveillance data monitoring the flu outbreak in England also suggests that hospital admissions have risen by a fifth in a week and are almost five times higher than in early December.
The crisis has already led to a dozen hospitals reporting critical incidents, meaning they are struggling to provide safe care to patients.
Experts also fear Britain’s ‘dangerous’ cold snap will continue to put pressure on already overstretched hospitals.
In 2022, Carrie shared this adorable photo of Wilfred and Romi preparing a mince pie and carrot for Santa on Christmas Eve
Wilfred pictured himself in 2022 wearing a jersey with his name on it while peering through a window
Romy pictured surrounded by a pile of presents as she celebrated her first birthday on December 9, 2022
Just this week, the UK Health Security Agency extended its ‘amber’ health warning for colds until midday on Sunday 12 January.
England’s top doctor has also warned that NHS staff were under ‘intense pressure’ and facing a situation ‘similar to the days at the height of the pandemic’.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, National Medical Director of the NHS, said: ‘It is clear that hospitals are under exceptional pressure at the start of this new year, with huge demand due to this ongoing cold snap and respiratory viruses such as flu.
‘All this because 2024 is the busiest year ever for emergency departments and ambulance teams.
‘I am always impressed by the remarkable work that NHS staff across a range of services carry out in the face of the current challenges, remaining compassionate and professional and doing everything they can to see patients as quickly as possible, while they are often working in hospitals that are full. to bursting.
‘It’s difficult to quantify just from the data how tough it is for frontline staff right now – with some emergency department staff saying their days at work feel like the days we had during the height of the pandemic.
‘As the incredibly busy winter continues and hospitals are clearly under great pressure, we ask that you please continue to use 999 and emergency services only in life-threatening emergencies.’
The NHS’s national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, warned that NHS staff were under ‘intense pressure’ and facing a situation ‘similar to the days at the height of the pandemic’
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There were an average of 5,408 flu patients in hospital in England every day last week, according to the latest NHS weekly figures.
For comparison: in the same period last year the number was 1,548. However, it is slightly lower than this point two years ago.
More than 620 hospital beds in England were also filled every day last week by patients with diarrhea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms.
This is almost a fifth more than the 528 of the previous week and almost 50 percent more than last year (424).
RSV – which is most common in infants and young children – was up almost half from the same period in 2023.
More than 1,100 beds were also occupied by patients with Covid.
Some hospitals have begun limiting visiting hours and imposing mask mandates amid fears of a rising number of “quad-demic” cases.
At least a dozen have also reported ‘critical incidents’.
Several NHS hospitals have now declared ‘critical incidents’. Ambulances are pictured waiting outside the emergency department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital on January 4
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Critical incident is an NHS term used by hospitals when they can no longer guarantee that patient care can be delivered safely.
Such incidents are typically reported in response to overwhelming demand or failing infrastructure.
The NHS data also showed that more than four in 10 patients who arrived by ambulance at hospitals in England last week waited at least half an hour before being transferred to A&E – the highest figure so far this winter.
More than a fifth of transfers – 19,554 patients – were delayed by more than an hour, again the highest figure so far this winter and almost double the same point last year.