Swine flu helpline 'working well'

Jul 25 2009

The Government's swine flu helpline and website in England is working well, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said as figures revealed that more than 5,500 people were given access to Tamiflu on its first day of operation.

Over 58,000 assessments were made by the National Pandemic Flu Service on Thursday, 89% of which were completed on the internet, and 5,584 courses of the anti-viral drugs were collected, the Department of Health said.

Mr Burnham said: "These figures show that, despite an unprecedented demand for the National Pandemic Flu Service, the phone line and website are running well, illustrating once again how wonderfully resilient the NHS and its healthcare professionals are.

"People in need of antivirals are able to get them quickly and conveniently using the new service and it is freeing up GPs to look after patients in risk groups as well as those with other illnesses.

"We're greatly encouraged that the flu service is doing the job intended, but we're also aware that the system is in its early days and we are keeping its operation under close review."

New adverts for the service were launched as part of a £2.4 million campaign to publicise it. The print adverts detail the symptoms of swine flu, including a fever or a high temperature over 38C or 100.4F.

The adverts reminds patients that they should contact their doctor, rather than use the National Pandemic Flu Service, if they have a serious underlying illness; if they are pregnant; if they have a sick child under one year old; if their condition, or that of their child's, suddenly gets much worse; or if their condition is still getting worse after seven days (five days for a child).

Doctors in Stockholm, Sweden continued to treat pregnant swine flu victim Sharon Pentleton, 26, who is described as, "stable but still critical"

She was flown from Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, Scotland to Karolinska University Hospital to be given Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) after she suffered a rare and severe reaction to the virus and developed adult respiratory distress.

No beds were available for the procedure which takes blood out of the body and oxygenates it before returning it. Staff in Stockholm said that the treatment would last several days while the lungs are allowed to rest.