Why it matters
Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) Hubs were introduced across England in winter 2022/23 to help manage the increased demand for emergency healthcare services from people with respiratory infections, including colds, flu, and COVID-19. As part of the CARE-NET programme, we are collaborating with RAND Europe to carry out an evaluation of ARI Hubs across England.
This evaluation examined how ARI Hubs have been established and delivered, their intended outcomes, and the feasibility of a future study to assess their effectiveness and value for money.
The study, conducted between May 2025 and June 2026, included
- a review of previous evaluations
- a survey of 35 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs)
- interviews with NHS staff
- focus groups with members of the public
- and a workshop involving NHS staff and public representatives.
What we found
ARI Hubs varied in how they delivered services because of factors like the individual hubs’ funding and commissioning arrangements, their existing relationships, IT integration, regional leadership, and the wider health system. They did seem to offer extra capacity in winter – which resulted in positive feedback from patients.
To drive change, we found that there are several things that ARI hubs need to do. These include:
- making proper referrals, triage, and booking
- separating potentially infectious patients from other patients
- offering point of care testing
- monitoring and evaluation
- integrated care working and staff training.
We found limited evidence to show that ARI hubs reduced pressure on urgent and emergency care services – more research will be needed to assess their effectiveness and value for money.
Differences in how hubs operate, alongside the availability and quality of data, will also need to be considered when evaluating their impact.
The future commissioning and delivery of ARI Hubs should focus on improving patient access to ARI Hubs, the ability to scale services up or down as needed, and earlier decision making around funding.
Funding for five-year CARE-NET programme announced
Acute respiratory infection hubs: impact evaluation
