Issue - items at meetings - Pandemic Flu Update

Update on local preparations for the swine flu pandemic by Dr Tom Scanlon, Director of Public Health, Brighton & Hove (copy attached).

21.1    This Item was introduced by Dr Tom Scanlon, Director of Public Health Brighton & Hove. Dr Scanlon then answered members’ questions.

21.2    Dr Scanlon told members that a (national) priority list for vaccination of members of the community had been prepared. This list included those between 6 months and 65 years in seasonal flu ‘at-risk’ groups; pregnant women; people in regular contact with immuno-compromised persons; and over-65s at risk of seasonal flu. Front-line medical staff (and some other groups of front-line workers) will also be vaccinated at an early stage, although the programme for these vaccinations is separate from the community vaccination programme. The timetable for these vaccination programmes would be shortly announced.

21.3    In answer to a question concerning the widespread prescription of anti-viral medication (e.g. tamiflu) during the first wave of the pandemic, Dr Scanlon informed members that this policy may well have slowed the spread of the virus (and therefore allowed for better emergency planning). In addition, the ‘on-line prescribing’ of Tamiflu meant that primary care services were not overwhelmed with pandemic-related queries to the detriment of their other work. However, this was not necessarily a zero-sum game, and there may also have been drawbacks to the wide-spread use of anti-virals at this stage in the pandemic (such as more severe than anticipated side-effects for some patients).

21.4    Dr Scanlon told the committee that planning for the swine flu pandemic was based upon national guidance. However, there was a good deal of decision making at a local level, as each locality had to take its own demography etc. into account.

21.5    Members were informed that it might, at some point during a second wave of swine flu, prove necessary to shut some or all local schools. This would be a local decision made between the Education Authority working in conjunction with the Health Protection Agency.

21.6    Dr Scanlon told members that Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals Trust (BSUH) had undertaken detailed planning for a surge in the pandemic. This preparation included planning to cancel/postpone elective surgery in order to free space for swine flu cases; planning for swifter and more effective patient discharge; and planning for the potential use of beds in private healthcare facilities (e.g. the Nuffield, the Sussex Orthopaedic Treatment Centre). 

21.7    The committee was told that the swine flu vaccination was additional to the normal seasonal flu jab, although the first swine flu jab could be combined with the single seasonal flu jab (currently, it was anticipated that two swine flu jabs would be required, although this could change). There did seem to be some evidence from around the globe that the swine flu virus effectively ‘pushed aside’ seasonal flu (i.e. that seasonal flu rates in some parts of the world have been considerably lower than anticipated during the first wave of the swine flu pandemic), although there was no guarantee that this would be repeated in a second wave of the pandemic.

21.8    RESOLVED – That the Director of Public Health’s report be noted.