http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/Swine_flu/article6727009.ece
July 25, 2009
Sainsbury’s refuses to distribute flu drug because ‘we don’t want sick people here’
David Rose, David Robertson and Charlene Sweeney
Sainsbury’s faced criticism from health unions last night after it refused to distribute swine flu medication as part of a national plan to treat sufferers.
Hundreds of antiviral collection points have been set up as part of the National Pandemic Flu Service, which is diagnosing flu infections over the phone or internet and providing codes for patients to get antiviral drugs.
The service, which has so far cost £2.5 million, was set up on Thursday and is expected to be available through the winter flu season, when “massive” demands on the NHS are predicted.
Some branches of Asda, Boots, Lloyds Pharmacy and Tesco are among those that have signed up to distribute the drugs. But while some Sainsbury’s in-store pharmacies are supplying Tamiflu (ostelamivir) as an “interim measure” on private prescription, there are no plans for the chain to become an official part of the service, it said.
People who receive a diagnosis of swine flu are given a numbered code that can be used to obtain the drug. “Flu friends” will need to present a form of identification from the patient to collect the drug. A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said that it had never agreed that its pharmacies should operate as designated antiviral collection points for local NHS primary care trusts.
“This is a longstanding policy instigated well before the current flu outbreak to ensure our pharmacists can carry out their day-to-day duties,” it said. “A supermarket, with thousands of daily visitors, is not a suitable collection point as it would lead to increased risk to shoppers and colleagues.”
A spokeswoman for Unison said the attitude of Sainsbury’s was in “stark contrast” to that of NHS staff. “It’s the friend, not the ill person, who will collect the drugs,” she said.
A study published in the journal Anaesthesia warned that hospitals across England could face shortages of crucial intensive care beds because of swine flu, especially for children. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, the Intensive Care Society and St George’s Hospital in Tooting, southwest London, found that demand for beds and ventilators at the peak of a pandemic could be 60 per cent above the number available across England.
Demand would outstrip supply by 130 per cent in at least one region, the South East — but London and other areas may cope better, the researchers said.
The warning came as a pregnant woman — Sharon Pentleton, 26, from Scotland — was “gravely ill” after contracting a rare and severe complication from swine flu. She was flown to Sweden for emergency treatment.
Ms Pentleton, who had been on a ventilator in Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock, since last week but was flown to Stockholm on Thursday night suffering from “adult respiratory distress syndrome”. No beds were available in Britain for the procedure she needed — known as extra corporeal membrane oxygenation, which is designed to take blood out of the body, add oxygen to it, and then transfuse it back in. England has five beds for adults — all at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester — but they were all occupied on Thursday night, two by other adults with swine flu.
The Government has insisted that it can cancel non-emergency operations to increase the overall number of beds available but the study said that even this would not meet demand. The Department of Health said there were 364 intensive care beds for children in England and 3,637 for adults.
A spokeswoman for the department said: “Trusts have advised that, in the event of a widespread flu outbreak, they estimate that they could double their critical-care capacity for ventilated patients. “This would be done by invoking their escalation procedures, which include cancelling elective procedures and redeploying staff and providing a more basic level of care for critical care patients (ie, less diagnostic tests etc).”
Staff at Heathrow will board any plane where cabin crew suspect a passenger may have swine flu, airport authorities said yesterday. Affected passengers will be told to go home and call the flu hotline for advice and possible treatment if they are a British or EU resident. The Government will use a £2.4 million advertising campaign to publicise the hotline and website.
July 25, 2009
Sainsbury’s refuses to distribute flu drug because ‘we don’t want sick people here’
David Rose, David Robertson and Charlene Sweeney
Sainsbury’s faced criticism from health unions last night after it refused to distribute swine flu medication as part of a national plan to treat sufferers.
Hundreds of antiviral collection points have been set up as part of the National Pandemic Flu Service, which is diagnosing flu infections over the phone or internet and providing codes for patients to get antiviral drugs.
The service, which has so far cost £2.5 million, was set up on Thursday and is expected to be available through the winter flu season, when “massive” demands on the NHS are predicted.
Some branches of Asda, Boots, Lloyds Pharmacy and Tesco are among those that have signed up to distribute the drugs. But while some Sainsbury’s in-store pharmacies are supplying Tamiflu (ostelamivir) as an “interim measure” on private prescription, there are no plans for the chain to become an official part of the service, it said.
People who receive a diagnosis of swine flu are given a numbered code that can be used to obtain the drug. “Flu friends” will need to present a form of identification from the patient to collect the drug. A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said that it had never agreed that its pharmacies should operate as designated antiviral collection points for local NHS primary care trusts.
“This is a longstanding policy instigated well before the current flu outbreak to ensure our pharmacists can carry out their day-to-day duties,” it said. “A supermarket, with thousands of daily visitors, is not a suitable collection point as it would lead to increased risk to shoppers and colleagues.”
A spokeswoman for Unison said the attitude of Sainsbury’s was in “stark contrast” to that of NHS staff. “It’s the friend, not the ill person, who will collect the drugs,” she said.
A study published in the journal Anaesthesia warned that hospitals across England could face shortages of crucial intensive care beds because of swine flu, especially for children. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, the Intensive Care Society and St George’s Hospital in Tooting, southwest London, found that demand for beds and ventilators at the peak of a pandemic could be 60 per cent above the number available across England.
Demand would outstrip supply by 130 per cent in at least one region, the South East — but London and other areas may cope better, the researchers said.
The warning came as a pregnant woman — Sharon Pentleton, 26, from Scotland — was “gravely ill” after contracting a rare and severe complication from swine flu. She was flown to Sweden for emergency treatment.
Ms Pentleton, who had been on a ventilator in Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock, since last week but was flown to Stockholm on Thursday night suffering from “adult respiratory distress syndrome”. No beds were available in Britain for the procedure she needed — known as extra corporeal membrane oxygenation, which is designed to take blood out of the body, add oxygen to it, and then transfuse it back in. England has five beds for adults — all at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester — but they were all occupied on Thursday night, two by other adults with swine flu.
The Government has insisted that it can cancel non-emergency operations to increase the overall number of beds available but the study said that even this would not meet demand. The Department of Health said there were 364 intensive care beds for children in England and 3,637 for adults.
A spokeswoman for the department said: “Trusts have advised that, in the event of a widespread flu outbreak, they estimate that they could double their critical-care capacity for ventilated patients. “This would be done by invoking their escalation procedures, which include cancelling elective procedures and redeploying staff and providing a more basic level of care for critical care patients (ie, less diagnostic tests etc).”
Staff at Heathrow will board any plane where cabin crew suspect a passenger may have swine flu, airport authorities said yesterday. Affected passengers will be told to go home and call the flu hotline for advice and possible treatment if they are a British or EU resident. The Government will use a £2.4 million advertising campaign to publicise the hotline and website.