Health experts in the North West have welcomed news that the impact of swine flu on the majority of people in the UK is now assessed as being milder than first feared.

Evidence is now pointing to a less severe but more prolonged outbreak, with NHS staff experiencing pressure until May next year.

However they are urging people who are in “at risk” groups and NHS staff who are eligible to take up the offer of a swine flu jab to do so.

The number of people in North West hospitals in connection with swine flu has gone up by 35% over the past week; there were 118 in hospital yesterday, with 29 people in critical care; across the country the number of people in hospital has doubled in the past three weeks.

Dr Ruth Hussey, North West Director for Public Health said, “It is great news that for the majority of the population, swine flu is proving to be milder than was originally feared.

"We are however concerned that the number of people needing hospital treatment and critical care is continuing to rise. It seems that although the total number of people catching the virus is going up slowly overall, the complications people are experiencing are severe.”

Up to 1.5m people could still become ill in the peak week.

Children under 16 are particularly susceptible to the illness and unfortunately in rare cases we have seen healthy children developing severe complications.

At the moment there are “hotspots” in the North West, in Manchester and East and Central Lancashire and it is expected that this will continue over the next few months, with some areas reporting more cases of swine flu than others at different times.