God bless the NHS…….
The National Flu Service is expected to go live later today , giving thousands of swine flu sufferers access to drugs without needing to consult with a GP.
The Department of Health has accepted that the service could be abused with people giving the answers they believe will give them access to anti-flu drugs. But Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson has said it was a price worth paying to help the NHS cope with its “biggest challenge in a generation”.
Which will be why the NHS also has a helpful site – ‘Swine Flu symtpom checker’…….. I mean they wouldn’t want you failing to get your hands on €432 worth of free Tamiflu by giving the wrong answers would they? Nor should you fail just because you can’t speak English yet – the service is available in the following languages.
In case that is not helpful enough for you to commence on this year’s most profitable scam, the Daily Express is reporting that hundreds of people with few English language skills and no medical training will join the 1,500 team taking calls from the public.
The Department of Health has declined to officially reveal where all call centres will be. But at one identified centre in Watford, Herts, one applicant said: “I asked if they needed staff and they told me about the swine flu centre they were setting up. They didn’t want to know much about me, but said I would undergo up to five hours of paid training with NHS staff before being allowed to take calls. I was told I didn’t need any medical background, just that I would be available to work evening shifts for at least the next couple of weeks.”
Interesting that this chap should be told to be available to work evenings, the NHS have specified that the help line will only be open during the day!
So providing you don’t speak English, and providing you mug up on the answers first HERE, and (I particularly love this bit!)
“If you are using the symptom checker on behalf of someone else please remember that the questions will be about them.”
Yes, remember that whinging about your bunions won’t net you €432, then you should be able to get your hands on a 30 capsule pack of 75mg Tamiflu free of charge just in time to flog it to someone who really has got Swine flu.
God Bless the NHS. They can waste money with such style.
What’s the betting the web site crashes on the first day. Nah, make that in the first hour.
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1
July 23, 2009 at 4:31 pm -
The NHS is a master of wasting money
Or should that be capricious mistress
Still I shouldnt really grumble, its because the NHS pays such shit money to substantive doctors that there are so many lucrative locum posts which is what I do
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July 23, 2009 at 6:38 pm -
Yup Anna, it has crashed, don’t know about the first hour though but it didn’t take long.
Your gifted, you really are. lol
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July 23, 2009 at 6:54 pm -
Is anybody keeping a record of who drugs have been prescribed for, or is it going to be possible to keep phoning up and getting more drugs? Silly question really as its obvious they won’t have been that organised.
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July 23, 2009 at 6:58 pm -
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July 23, 2009 at 10:03 pm -
You should have read the article in The Register about it Anna, or maybe you did.
The big problem with all this is the bug is very likley to become resistant to the drugs – then all hell breaks loose. I have personal experience with a bug becoming drug resistant – it cost me my 16 year old daughter. So I’m not in favour of handing out drugs except as the final measure. Let people became immune to the infection, that way you stop the spread.
People of today are obsessed with trying to live in a germ free environment and as a consequence they catch every bug going, instead of having the attitude my mother had which was ‘a little dirt never harmed anyone’. I’ve had people down here on holiday – from the UK – who have been horrified when I’ve offered them some fruit directly from one of my trees. They said it was ‘dirty’ – rubbish. -
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July 23, 2009 at 10:37 pm -
Absolute madness – department of health induced national panic and medically negligent doling out of an unneccesary drug. I suppose it is the logical conclusion of the ‘empowerment and upskilling of the work force’ that defines new labours approach to the NHS – 5 hours training and a flow chart and you are safe to prescribe!. The potential for misdiagnosis is enormous – missed meningitis, pneumonia, pyelonephritis etc as is the scope for adverse drug reactions. Tamiflu does not ‘cure’ flu – at best it may shorten duration of symptoms by some 24 hours if started within the first 48 hours . I would not take it and have so far not prescribed it for any of my patients but then I took the old fashioned 5 years at medical school, 5 years of postgraduate training and 15 years on the job experience as a GP route to where I am rather than the flowchart and intensive 5 hour training route.
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July 23, 2009 at 10:51 pm -
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July 23, 2009 at 10:55 pm -
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July 23, 2009 at 11:37 pm -
Tamiflu – my foot ..
Have a Pernod, Pastiche, whatever – aniseed liquor
cheaper and better
Rant over … -
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July 23, 2009 at 11:43 pm -
Only way to avoid world-wide infection is a classic old-fashioned one: stay where you are for 2-3 weeks
it’s called quarantine
uncalled for effective, also for “foot and mouth”, you name it
avoid contact with others
virus drops deadApart from that: whatever happened to Asian aviar [bird] flu…?
Rant over
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July 23, 2009 at 11:46 pm -
Forgive me: I am reacting to the Tamiflu scam like a bull on a red cloth.
Off to the silken sheets.
Goodnight -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:14 am -
Anna
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/20/nhs_direct_swine_flu/Yes it was tragic she had a career as a book illustrator lined up but insisted on travelling to PNG with me – bitten by a mosquito and died of a drug resistant strain of malaria within 8 days of arriving.
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July 24, 2009 at 12:26 am -
Earlier today here we visited the symptom checker you refer to, if you said yes to the question about chest pain but no to the other flu symptoms, the next page that appeared was in red and said dial 999 immediately (heart attack symptoms). Since then that part of the checker has disappeared. No doubt due to the high amount of 999 calls that must have been placed!
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July 24, 2009 at 12:32 am -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:35 am -
You’re up late Ms Raccoon.
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July 24, 2009 at 12:35 am -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:38 am -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:39 am -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:40 am -
Hi Saul: funny, I had that too. Testdrove the NHS site and gathered from questions page nr.1 that best to have the flu would be to have no air. Bingo: heart attack
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July 24, 2009 at 12:40 am -
What!!
Mini skirt and thigh boots.
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July 24, 2009 at 12:41 am -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:42 am -
Evening Milady, I trust you are more suitably attired.
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July 24, 2009 at 12:42 am -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:43 am -
And lots of sugar
Good night “all”. -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:45 am -
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July 24, 2009 at 12:52 am -
Blyme, Anna. We have the same type of nightmare-ish weather, having all electric lights on at 11 am today as the skies were black and the rain pouring. No hail, thank you Mylord, so so far no damage to the fruit trees yet.
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July 24, 2009 at 12:52 am -
A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.
The Daily Sport a red top that know’s how to PANIC it’s target audience. The BBC, Brain Botoxed Cuties.
A different NHS responce than VIAGRA. We will not be paying for it for middle aged gigalo’s, unless they own the Italian media. wink wink.
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July 24, 2009 at 12:54 am -
Good evening to you, dear Sir Saul.
Of course my attire is covering all.
Though I mus admit was wearing my panther-print safari sneakers today to add a note of naughty
Forgive me, I must withdraw now [to the silken sheets]
and bid you good night
Châtelaine -
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July 24, 2009 at 8:04 am -
When I heard the BBC had collared 4000 units of this stuff for its own staff, I finally gave up on this nonsense. The last I heard there were 2600 hits to the site per second (BBCnews24). The world has gone mad and the people responsible have gone on 82 days holiday.
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