http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2009/07/31/newsstory13539676t0.asp
By Marjory Inglis, health reporter
ONE PATIENT was in hospital in Tayside with laboratory-confirmed swine flu last night, as the region again reported the highest rate in Scotland of GP consultations for flu-like illnesses.
Last night NHS Tayside?s public health director Dr Drew Walker warned people with flu symptoms not to turn up unannounced at surgeries or hospitals.
Special measures to limit the spread of the virus mean patients with flu symptoms are being isolated and may be asked to wear masks.
Four people in Tayside and two people in Fife, who tested positive for swine flu, were hospitalised last week. All but one have been discharged.
Health Protection Scotland, in its weekly situation report published yesterday, said the Tayside consultation rate was ?substantially higher? than the overall Scottish rate.
It was the third week in succession that Tayside topped the chart, recording nearly three times the Scottish average.
More than 4300 people across Scotland are estimated to have contracted swine flu last week.
A total of 14 people confirmed as having influenza A (H1N1) were in hospital last week.
As of yesterday there were four people in hospital with the virus, one of whom is being treated outside Scotland.
There have been four deaths linked to influenza A (H1N1) since the start of the outbreak.
The rate of GP consultations for flu-like illness, not necessarily the swine flu virus, was 155 per 100,000 of the population in Tayside last week, a rise from 122 per 100,000 the previous week.
The Fife rate was 30 per 100,000, compared with 25 per 100,000 the previous week.
The Scottish average rate was 55 per 100,000, a rise from 47 per 100,000 the previous week.
Several weeks ago NHS Scotland abandoned swabbing and testing of every suspected swine flu victim in the face of mounting numbers of people with symptoms.
A proportion of people are still swabbed and laboratory tested and it is on these returns that estimates are made on positive H1N1 cases across the whole population.
?The figures reported by the Scottish Government for Tayside are higher than the overall Scottish average,? said Dr Walker.
?Part of the reason for this may be that GPs in Tayside use different software packages and record flu symptoms in a different way from other boards.
?The figures are also based on relatively small sample sizes and so should be interpreted with caution.
?However, we have seen an increase in the number of Tayside residents calling NHS 24 or their own GP with flu-like symptoms.
?The most important issue for us is to minimise the spread of infection in our communities and, as such, the public can expect some changes in the way they are seen by doctors and nurses if they have flu symptoms.
?Patients who call their own doctor or NHS24 and are assessed as needing to see a GP will be advised to go along to their doctor?s surgery and be given information of where they should attend.
?This is usually to a different entrance or area away from other patients who are in the waiting rooms and this is so we can reduce the spread of any potential infection.
?Tayside doctors and nurses are following the appropriate infection control procedures and will sometimes wear a mask when they see patients.?
By Marjory Inglis, health reporter
ONE PATIENT was in hospital in Tayside with laboratory-confirmed swine flu last night, as the region again reported the highest rate in Scotland of GP consultations for flu-like illnesses.
Last night NHS Tayside?s public health director Dr Drew Walker warned people with flu symptoms not to turn up unannounced at surgeries or hospitals.
Special measures to limit the spread of the virus mean patients with flu symptoms are being isolated and may be asked to wear masks.
Four people in Tayside and two people in Fife, who tested positive for swine flu, were hospitalised last week. All but one have been discharged.
Health Protection Scotland, in its weekly situation report published yesterday, said the Tayside consultation rate was ?substantially higher? than the overall Scottish rate.
It was the third week in succession that Tayside topped the chart, recording nearly three times the Scottish average.
More than 4300 people across Scotland are estimated to have contracted swine flu last week.
A total of 14 people confirmed as having influenza A (H1N1) were in hospital last week.
As of yesterday there were four people in hospital with the virus, one of whom is being treated outside Scotland.
There have been four deaths linked to influenza A (H1N1) since the start of the outbreak.
The rate of GP consultations for flu-like illness, not necessarily the swine flu virus, was 155 per 100,000 of the population in Tayside last week, a rise from 122 per 100,000 the previous week.
The Fife rate was 30 per 100,000, compared with 25 per 100,000 the previous week.
The Scottish average rate was 55 per 100,000, a rise from 47 per 100,000 the previous week.
Several weeks ago NHS Scotland abandoned swabbing and testing of every suspected swine flu victim in the face of mounting numbers of people with symptoms.
A proportion of people are still swabbed and laboratory tested and it is on these returns that estimates are made on positive H1N1 cases across the whole population.
?The figures reported by the Scottish Government for Tayside are higher than the overall Scottish average,? said Dr Walker.
?Part of the reason for this may be that GPs in Tayside use different software packages and record flu symptoms in a different way from other boards.
?The figures are also based on relatively small sample sizes and so should be interpreted with caution.
?However, we have seen an increase in the number of Tayside residents calling NHS 24 or their own GP with flu-like symptoms.
?The most important issue for us is to minimise the spread of infection in our communities and, as such, the public can expect some changes in the way they are seen by doctors and nurses if they have flu symptoms.
?Patients who call their own doctor or NHS24 and are assessed as needing to see a GP will be advised to go along to their doctor?s surgery and be given information of where they should attend.
?This is usually to a different entrance or area away from other patients who are in the waiting rooms and this is so we can reduce the spread of any potential infection.
?Tayside doctors and nurses are following the appropriate infection control procedures and will sometimes wear a mask when they see patients.?
