GPs To Spearhead Flu Monitoring

Just days after it was announced that the UK was moving to a 'treatment phase' in relation to managing the swine flu pandemic, it has been revealed that information on flu activity in Northern Ireland will now be monitored through GP practices and hospital surveillance systems.

It also emerged that with routine swabbing of people suspected of being infected now ceased, the emphasis moves directly to treatment of those confirmed with the virus.

The previous practice of daily updates being provided by the Department of Health has also ceased, with instead, weekly flu bulletins being published.

In addition to the ending of routine testing of suspected cases, the tracing of close contacts of a symptomatic patient will also be discontinued.

Stormont Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey said: "Up to this point, our strategy has been to contain the spread of the swine flu virus whilst we gather as much information as possible.

"While this was necessary and useful when the virus was limited to a few individuals, it is clear that we are now seeing sustained person to person transmission and we must shift our focus to treatment.

"We now know more about this virus and its characteristics; consequently we can rely on the robust surveillance systems which have been in place for many years. This is consistent with our pandemic flu plans," he insisted today.

"In light of this, swine flu updates will not be issued on a daily basis, instead there will be regular flu bulletins which will contain information on flu levels across Northern Ireland.

"These bulletins will build on well established arrangements for seasonal flu surveillance," he explained.

This is done through a network of 32 GP practices, which are distributed across the province, covering some 170,000 people or just under 10% of the population.

" In fact, the flu surveillance system in Northern Ireland has the greatest population coverage across the UK," he continued.

"We are continuing to develop and improve these surveillance systems to help ensure we are ready and prepared to deal with the surge in cases anticipated in the autumn."

See: Vaccines On Way As Fifth Flu Victim Dies

(BMcC/JM)