Millions of patients overwhelmed a new telephone and online service yesterday to obtain swine flu treatment without seeing a doctor as the number of cases doubled in a week.
The National Pandemic Flu Service, which offers callers or internet users a prescription code for antiviral drugs if they have symptoms, was experiencing “unprecedented demand”, with 9.3million hits every hour.
The website crashed within minutes of going live at 3pm but was later restored. By 5pm it was receiving the equivalent of 2,600 hits per second. The Government said that it was increasing capacity for the site.
It also emerged that: • swine flu has reached epidemic levels in many areas, with under-14s the worst hit. About 100,000 people in England were infected with the H1N1 virus in the week to Sunday compared with 55,000 cases the previous week;
• Vodafone could make millions of pounds from calls to the hotline. It is the only one of the big four mobile phone operators to charge users 20p a minute for calls to the 0800 number;
• the Church of England issued an unprecedented order to suspend “sharing of the chalice” at Communion;
• town hall leaders will meet today to discuss new measures, such as asking lollipop ladies and social workers to collect Tamiflu prescriptions for vulnerable people who contract swine flu.
Doctors have said that Tamiflu, the main antiviral drug being used to treat symptoms, could be overprescribed by staff at the telephone service, who are not medically trained. Gordon Brown said that the service was required to take the burden off frontline health staff. “We know that for people to be treated in the first 24 to 48 hours makes a real difference,” he said.
Applicants to the service are asked to supply their name, address and date of birth before receiving a code to exchange for medication. This code can be given to a “flu friend” who collects the antivirals, using a form of identification from the patient.
Peter Holden, of the British Medical Association, said: “There’s a few people who may seek to get antivirals by telling porkies. What they need to remember is that their identity will be checked and if they get one dose they will not be given another. Tamiflu is not a drug to be given in mild cases: it has side-effects and there’s no point in using it as a prophylactic. People may be thinking of taking it on holiday or selling it on eBay but they need to remember that the NHS stops at the White Cliffs of Dover and it is illegal to sell medicines without a licence.”
Charities have warned that diagnosing flu cases by phone or the internet could miss the symptoms of other serious illness such as meningitis.
Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, said that 840 people in England were being treated in hospital after contracting the virus; 63 were in a critical condition. The official death toll stayed at 30. About 25,000 people in Scotland and 3,000 in Wales also contacted their GPs about symptoms in the past week, but only patients in England so far are being invited to apply for drugs by phone or online.
A 26-year-old Scot critically ill with swine flu was transferred to Sweden yesterday for specialised treatment. The woman, who was admitted to hospital in Kilmarnock last week, has been on a ventilator due to an extreme reaction to the H1N1 virus.
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