In an effort to relieve the pressure on GPs, and in line with the national pandemic influenza plan, the government has now set up the National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS). This is a telephone and on-line service designed to assess whether a caller or user has swine flu and, if they have, whether anti-viral medication such as Tamiflu, would be an appropriate course of treatment. If Tamiflu is “recommended”, callers are given a “Unique Reference Number” (URN) and given details of Anti-viral Collection Points (ACPs) where the medication can be picked up by the caller’s “flu-friend”, on presentation of appropriate documentation or the unique reference number.

In Hertfordshire, ACPs have been running since Thursday lunchtime. At present, two ACPs have been established, one in Watford, the other in Welwyn Garden City. In both instances, the ACPs have been set up by the Primary Care Trust with the assistance of the relevant local councils, using council owned buildings. Both local authorities are also contributing some staff to assist and support the PCT who are administering the dispensing of antivirals. The majority of these staff are medical professionals. The location of the ACPs in Welwyn Garden City and Watford has been based on the PCTs analysis of where the demand is and how they can make the best use of NHS resources.

Reports from colleagues at Welwyn & Hatfield and Watford Councils suggest that there were a number of difficulties in the first two days of operation, largely generated by the National Pandemic Flu Service giving out wrong or misleading information. However, reports over the weekend were generally favourable with approx 130 people each day visiting the Watford ACP and at Welwyn Garden City, an average of 250 per day.

Since then, the numbers of flu-friend visits to the two ACPs have risen steadily in the last few days (350 per day at each of the locations) and it is understood that following an assessment of the situation over the weekend, a new collection point will be set up in Hertford which will open tomorrow (Thursday). Further possible ACPs have already been identified across the county and as the number of Hertfordshire residents with swine flu symptoms increases over the coming weeks and months, the PCT will monitor demand and open other ACPs around the county or change their opening hours as needed.

Callers or on-line users of the NPFS will be directed to consult with their GPs if they have other underlying conditions or fall into a “high risk” group where a better understanding of the patients’ clinical history / condition is required. If these people require anti-virals, they are likely to be able to source Tamiflu / Rolenza from a number of pharmacies across the county and so will not need to travel to ACPs.

The county council has been working with the PCT to set up a network of volunteers who will assist the “flu friendless” (i.e. those people unable to find anyone to act as their flu friend and collect anti-virals from ACPs). Colleagues in the Corporate Communications team will also be supporting the PCT to promote an initiative to mobilise the voluntary sector, church / faith groups / our own staff groups to maximise the number of flu friends in the county in order to minimise the number of people who don’t have anyone to help them. Members are asked to consider how they might be able to assist in publicising and promoting this message.

Internally, service leads continue to meet regularly to review the county council’s arrangements and monitor the situation. We have also put in place a monitoring regime paying special attention to the 22 critical services across the organisation where disruption to services would cause significant issues for the authority. These are particularly centred on the well-being / safety of clients and other essential services (e.g. waste disposal). This weekly “traffic light” report (Green “all’s well”, Amber “some impact but managing with existing resources” etc.) will go to the Strategic Management Board. It is designed to give early notice if any particular service is experiencing difficulties so that an appropriate response can be mobilised.

Officers from the Resilience Team have been working with the PCT and ACS to set up a system to distribute masks to providers of social care who may work within one metre of a person who is symptomatic. We have also produced training material about the use of and safe disposal of masks which will be issued shortly. “Responsible hand hygiene” (i.e. hand-washing, use of tissues, “catch it, kill it, bin it” etc.) remains the most effective way of limiting infection in the work place and this message is being repeated on regular occasions to our staff and service users.

We are seeing an increasing number of county council staff getting swine flu but as far as we know, their illness has been relatively mild and staff are returning after only a short period of time away from work. We expect that numbers will increase, in the coming weeks – in line with the predicted increase in infection rates across the region. However, to date, there has been no perceivable impact on service delivery.

The government has announced that a mass-vaccination programme will begin in September, starting with front-line health and social care staff. Officers from the county council are working with colleagues in the PCT to develop arrangements for this undertaking.

I attach the web link to the IDeA who have issued a guide which provides a checklist of what councillors can do to ensure their council is prepared as part of their community leadership role.
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=11808235

We will continue to liaise regularly with other partner organisations across the region and will keep you informed of the situation and our progress.