Pandemic flu
Pandemic flu epidemic is a phrase you keep hearing. Pandemic sounds so much like panic, doesn't it? However, there is a lot to feel good about. This is not the plague after all! Pandemicflu information is being updated all the time as the drama unfolds. Unfortunately, pandemicflu is now very much here to stay. The UK Government has warned that the potential threat from pandemic fu is very high and MUST be taken seriously.
National Pandemicflu Service
The UK government have set up what they call a "service" for people - or as they call them "patients" - who may have flu. The National Pandemicflu Service has been setup on a call centre basis (and for once this call centre is not in India, but hey give them time and it soon will be!) and non medical call centre operators will ask a series of questions in order to "assess the patient’s symptoms" and, if necessary, provide an authorisation number, which can then be used to collect antivirals from a local Antiviral Collection Point. That all sounds rather military and rather impersonal, and there is of course no guarantee of success. There is also a link to an old health assessment form, which under trials, in the majority of cases, tells you to call the emerency number 999 and wait for an ambulance. So you will soon see why the national pandemic flu service is getting a bad press. The service has been delayed and if you want to dial a number and be kept waiting and when someone non medical does take your call, who will then ask you a series of questions, then maybe it's for you. With upwards of 60% of the population expected to get swine flu this year, maybe you should take matters into your own hands though, and make sure you are covered now.
