Parents with children under the age of five years displaying swine flu symptoms, should avoid their doctor and now refer to the medical advice given by customer service advisors on the new National Pandemic Flu Service.<\/p>\n
Children between the age of one and five years are no longer a priority concern in England, despite Wales still keeping them in their swine flu ‘at risk’ group.<\/p>\n
In England, people who are pregnant, have a serious underlying illness or a sick child under one year old should still continue to contact their GP or NHS direct. Other members of the public with swine flu symptoms should contact the National Pandemic Flu Service.<\/p>\n
Designed to take the pressure off of doctors, the self-care service consisting of a dedicated website and phone line will allow people to check their symptoms and be given a unique number allowing them access to antivirals if necessary.<\/p>\n
\u00a0A flu friend or relative who does not have swine flu should go and pick up antivirals as allowed by call handlers. All details must match up to the details recorded in the phone conversation and necessary ID including a utility bill, passport, credit or debit card, driving license or NHS card must be shown.<\/p>\n
The fast recruitment drive will see people from all walks of life answering phones and handling sensitive and personal details about callers and their children. The job, entitled Customer Service Response Handler, is recruited through agencies such as Reed. ‘ An excellent phone manner and sympathetic ear are requirements for the position’ and the call handlers will have no medical training despite giving people access to medication such as Tamiflu.<\/p>\n
There will not be any medical professional in attendance at the centres though the NHS claim that there will be a special liaison between all call centres and doctors from the Royal College of GPs. NHS Direct trainers were also present in each call centre for the first two days only.<\/p>\n
Up to two thousand call handlers will be trained for at least three hours on answering and logging data on callers. Less experienced callers may be trained for up to one day. The NHS have strict industry standard regulations in place when employing call handlers. These include ‘the right to work in the UK; therefore no illegal immigrants, satisfactory employment references and satisfactory character references’. Reassuringly, ‘all are required to be able to speak English.’<\/p>\n
The service was launched at the end of last week by Health Secretary Andy Burnham, who said: “The National Pandemic Flu Service will give patients access to information and antivirals as quickly as possible. It will free up GPs so they can focus their efforts on helping those in at risk groups and patients with other illnesses.<\/p>\n
“People can still speak to their GP if they are concerned. In fact – it is important to stress that people with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, and parents with children under the age of one should speak to their GP if they have symptoms.<\/p>\n
“For the vast majority of people, swine flu has been mild. Some people find that they get better by staying in bed, drinking plenty of water and taking over the counter flu medication.”<\/p>\n