The NHS is moving head-long straight in to an emergency situation with the high number of swine flu critical cases needing intensive care, with the number of cases standing at over 300 as I write this piece.
During last years outbreak the maximum number of cases using intensive care beds was at 180, but the current figure is growing each and every day and we are yet to see the peak.
Flu vaccination rates so far this autumn, has been well down on previous years and many doctors are blaming the Government for failure to spend money on marketing vaccine uptake and awareness amongst the general public.
Professor Steve Field an expert in General Practice told an audience this week that “'It was ill-advised not to have the public awareness campaign on seasonal flu jab uptake that we usually have, because we knew that the public and health-care professionals were likely to become complacent after last year's swine flu pandemic wasn't the serious attack on the country that we thought it could be”.
The BMA has also written to ministers to urge them to reverse their decision and stave off a looming flu crisis. There is clearly a crisis brewing and it’s only going to get worse, do you have confidence that the Government know what they are doing?
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