sir bruce keogh, who has been the most senior doctor for ten years and he says the problem is that thereyears and he says the problem is that there is the central advicem is the latest cry for help. he said it isa is the latest cry for help. he said it is a desperate organisation with no centre, yet it is supposedly the most centralised organisation after the soviet army, isn't it? that is what used to be said. again, i hate to put on the american thing, but this sort of system, as well—intentioned as it was and as lauded as it should be, and i would like to continue with a system where you can show up at a hospital, but from a management standpoint and a funding standpoint, it doesn't work. what he is saying the problem is, he also blames the watchdogs. he says there are too many boards and too many watchdogs. too many cooks spoiling the broth. terrible things are being done to save people from death and disability. there are small things that everybody should be doing, and not everybody is doing it. everyone has a good nhs story and a bad nhs story. now, catalan. that is on the front p

today one of its top officials, sir bruce keogh, was at the whittington hospital, in london, to findnder severe and unrelenting pressure. i think many people are very worried that this winter will be particularly difficult and the thing that i worry about most is that we have an outbreak of flu or an outbreak of norovirus which puts an added strain on the nhs services. the problem highlighted today is a huge variation in vaccination levels at hospitals and other trusts. at one, only 18% of staff received the jab last winter. at another, it was 96%. thousands of care home workers will also be offered the job free, paid for by the nhs. other measures aimed at taking the pressure off hospitals have been announced today, including an increase in the number of training places for doctors going into emergency medicine and plans designed to try to retain more staff, but that's all for the the future and won't help this winter. last year hospitals were full at times even though there was no serious flu problem. that's why nhs officials are so concerned about what a flu outbreak this time mig

sir bruce keogh said he was worried about how staff would cope if there's a major flu outbreak, thisere are concerns every year about a flu outbreak. why is this year a particular worry? in australia's winter, which has just passed, there were many more flu cases than usual and there is a concern in the same strain might reach europe, which is why the word is going out for everyone to have a flu jab, particularly nhs staff, who get it for free and might have flew without realising it and could spread it around patients. there is huge variation in take—up. at one hospital, fewer than 20% of staff we re hospital, fewer than 20% of staff were vaccinated. at another, 95%. nhs chiefs say that variation has to be dealt with and employers need to do more to make it available. care home workers will be given the vaccine for free, home workers will be given the vaccine forfree, paid home workers will be given the vaccine for free, paid for by the nhs. the concern is that last winter hospitals were close to capacity, sometimes without enough beds, and there was not a clue problem, and if it ha

earlier this week, its medical director, sir bruce keogh, told the bbc he was worried that the servicements come after australia experienced a bad winter with the disease, with hospitals unable to cope. now, an initiative to boost the take—up of flu vaccinations has been launched. to find out more about the importance of the jab, let's speak to professorjames stewart from the institute of infection and global health at the university of liverpool. a very good morning to you. good morning. good morning. do you want to give us the hard sell first? this message has been out there before. the flu jab works and you should do it. that is the message from most in the business. it is safe and effective. it is not 100% effective. but the more people that have it, the less risk there is of the virus spreading to more susceptible at risk groups, including the elderly and those with underlying health conditions like asthma and lung disease. we were talking about this yesterday with sally davies. last year, for over 65s, it was not as effective, in 2015. a couple of things are going on. as we get o