Swine flu line to close
The National Pandemic Flu Service is to close in a fortnight, the Department of Health has announced. The DH has decided that both the web and telephone service will be discontinued simultaneously at 1am on Thursday, 11 February. Ian Dalton, national director of NHS Flu Resilience, wrote to primary care trust and hospital chief executives […]
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A year in review
Further delays to full flu line service
The full version of the National Pandemic Flu Service may not be available in October as originally planned, despite the chief medical officer predicting that a second wave of swine flu is on its way. Health minister Gillian Merron told the House of Commons in July that the enhanced web and telephone-based NPFS would be available […]
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Swine flu website crashes on launch day
The National Pandemic Flu Service website crashed on the day it was launched after the site recorded more than 9.3m hits per hour. The Department of Health said demand was “unprecedented” with 2,600 hits a second and that it believed many people were visiting the site out of curiosity. Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson […]
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NHS flu line to go live next week
The interim National Pandemic Flu Service is to go live in England from the end of next week, the Department of Health has announced. The service, renamed from the originally planned Flu Line, will consist of a dedicated website and call centres. Patients will be able to contact the service if they suspect they have […]
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Interim flu line for 100,000 cases a day
The Department of Health’s interim flu line service is expected to be operational by next week, as the government predicts 100,000 swine flu cases a day by the end of August. The interim arrangements for the flu line, which has had its name changed to the National Pandemic Flu Service, have been put in place […]
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Interim flu line plans unveiled
The Department of Health is drawing up plans for an interim flu line after admitting that its National Flu Line Service will not be ready until October. Health secretary Alan Johnson told the House of Commons that the alternative system would let patients call a single number and that this would generate the collection of […]
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No National Flu Line until autumn
A telephone and web-based National Flu Line service to offer advice and authorise access to antiviral medicines in the event of a pandemic will not be ready until the autumn, the Department of Health has admitted.
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Software aids planning for pandemic flu
More than 2,000 GP practices are to receive software to help them complete pandemic flu contingency plans. The software, the iQ Pandemic Flu Planner, is produced by specialist software company iQ Medical, which has already won contracts with East of England strategic health authority and several primary care trusts to supply the planning tool to […]
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