We are all doomed!!!!! DIY Diagnosis: Swine Flu Hotline Launched

DIY Diagnosis: Swine Flu Hotline Launched



8:12am UK, Thursday July 23, 2009

Tessa Chapman, Sky News reporter
The National Pandemic Flu Service is due to be launched across England, allowing people who think they have the H1N1 virus to bypass the NHS to obtain antiviral drugs.

Call centre worker

People can ring the call centre for an over-the-phone assessment

Health Secretary Andy Burnham says the service will ease pressure on GPs who have been overwhelmed by the volume of queries about the virus.

"People can either answer questions online via the new website or ring the call centre to be assessed over the phone by trained staff," he said.

Some 31 people have now died after contracting swine flu, although that figure is expected to rise today as Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, announces an update.

Visitors to the Government website will fill in a detailed questionnaire before being given a positive or negative swine flu diagnosis.

Call centre staff manning the telephone hotline will use the same algorithm. They are expecting to field up to 200,000 queries a day.

If a caller is confirmed to have swine flu they will be given an authorisation number, which their designated "flu friend" can use to pick up antiviral drugs from the local collection point.

Over 2,000 staff have been recruited and given six-hour long training sessions before they start work. They are not required to have any previous medical experience.

Some critics claim the "worried well" will abuse the DIY diagnosis to apply for medication unnecessarily.

Others fear swine flu symptoms could mask other serious illnesses, like meningitis.

Seventeen-year-old Gemma Drury, from Chesterfield, was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus by two separate doctors.

She was in fact suffering from meningitis and is now recovering in hospital.

Her father Kevin told Sky News: "If two doctors could get it wrong with Gemma, what hope would someone on the end of the phone with no medical training have?

"It's not the right way to make a diagnosis."

The Department of Health insists the service is simply a way for people to get access to Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs quickly.

Anyone displaying unusual symptoms will still be advised to contact a medical professional.