National swine flu service to close
National swine flu service to close
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 04, Feb 2010 03:30
By Alex Steger.
The National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS), which was set up to deal with the outbreak of swine flu, will close next week, it has been confirmed.
The service, which was launched in July 2009, allowed patients to undergo telephone and online assessments to enable them to get antiviral drugs without seeing a doctor.
It was launched in response to the dramatic rise in the numbers of infections across the country last year. However, with the quantity of new cases of the H1N1 virus falling to their lowest level since the outbreak over Christmas it has been the service will now be closed down.
Health minister Andy Burnham confirmed the decision on Thursday, announcing it will officially close on February 11th.
The government has moved to reassure patients who believe they have the flu, by saying they can still obtain anti-viral drugs from their GPs and those at risk of infection can still receive vaccinations.
At the outbreak's peak health experts predicted that as many as 65,000 people could have died with more than 100,000 new cases of the virus every day.
A study carried out in December though showed the virus to be les lethal than first thought. Health officials said around 400 people in England who had contracted the flu had died.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health (DoH) said: "Our priority remains to vaccinate those most at risk from swine flu, as people are still in hospital from the virus and sadly some have died.
"This is the first time we have had a vaccine to protect people while a pandemic virus has been circulating, so it has undoubtedly helped us save lives."
According to the DoH the NPFS, which at the peak of the outbreak employed around 1,500 call centre staff, could be restored with in a week if it were necessary.