Local NHS services are already “struggling” as sickness and self-isolation deplete staff numbers, a health board has heard.

Halton Council’s health and wellbeing board heard on Wednesday that staff being told to self-isolate had added to the strains faced by local services as Covid-19 cases continue to escalate.

Martin Stanley, representing Halton’s clinical commissioning group, told councillors: “In terms of the winter crisis we are seeing at the moment, it’s not actually the Covid patients, it’s the loss of staff that are being picked up through test and trace.”

Mr Stanley said the ambulance service had been “struggling” and half of one hospital’s discharge team had been told to self-isolate meaning there were delays in getting patients out of hospital once they had recovered.

Staff shortages are just one of the challenges facing NHS services in the North West this winter as coronavirus cases continue to mount on top of the normal winter pressures caused by seasonal flu and the cold weather.

Halton Council chief executive David Parr urged members of the public to get the flu vaccine to limit the impact of seasonal flu on already stretched local health services.

Mr Parr said: “The pressures on the community services are always increased because of the winter weather and the vulnerabilities that people have, particularly older people.

“This year, it’s even more acute because we are doing that in the middle of a Covid pandemic as well, so it becomes even more important for us to focus on that.

“I encourage the public to take their flu vaccine to protect themselves, to take all the steps they possibly can to protect themselves from Covid and to keep themselves warm, which is just as important.”

The board also heard that the number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 had increased, with 60 people currently in Warrington Hospital and 61 in Whiston.

Cases also continue to rise, with the borough seeing more than 400 new cases last week.

Halton’s infection rate for the week up to October 4 was 328 cases per 100,000 residents. A month ago, the borough’s infection rate was just 24 cases per 100,000 residents.