Neighborhood swine flu clinics open in Scotland while GPs in UK under extreme pressure

Scotland may be leading the world in opening up clinics specifically dedicated to cope with the swine flu epidemic. To date, nine clinics have been set up in the west of Scotland, the area which has been worst hit. Four of the dedicated swine flu centers are in Glasgow, with others in Paisley, East Renfrewshire, Dunbartonshire, Greenock and Clydebank.
The goal is that anyone suspected of having the virus will now be sent to one of the clinics to be tested, instead of into the multi-tasked healthcare system.

A news article in the Scottish Sun, reports Dr Linda de Caestecker, Director of Public Health for NHSGGC, as saying: “So far, GPs have been travelling to peoples’ homes to swab anyone with suspected Influenza A (H1N1).

“But as the number of suspected cases has continued to increase, this practice is no longer sustainable.

“People will now be assessed by NHS24 or their GP, then asked to go to one of the dedicated facilities. But only those with an appointment will be seen.

“If confirmed as having the virus, they’ll be asked to collect Tamiflu from a pharmacy in their area.”

Scottish swine flu cases are reported at 537 confirmed as and 411 possible as of 19 June.

Meanwhile, British GP are calling for routine work to be suspended in the areas hit hardest with swine flu, including London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Sheffield. The British medical news magazine Pulse, quotes Dr Peter Holden, the British Medical Association lead on pandemic flu as saying,

‘We are basically saying in those areas where they’ve got this outbreak, they should say it’s alert level 3 and allow them to suspend the QOF and normal work,’ he said. ‘We are able to cope, but what we can’t do is the day job and the flu job.’

‘There is no question that GPs in the localities are under extreme pressure.’

In the United States, the CDC reports healthcare workers have been infected with novel H1N1, and about half of these infections are from exposure in the health care environment.
In a CDC press briefing on 18 June, Dr Mike Bell spoke about the infection measures that are needed to prevent exposure of health care personnel to this influenza.

"Probably the single most important thing is that infectious patients be identified at the front door. Whether these patients are coming in through the emergency department or the ambulatory care clinic, identifying them up front is essential so health care personnel know that they should be doing the things that we recommend; that consistent application of precautions is important to make sure that there isn't occupational exposure.

The current recommendations include using a single patient room for infectious individuals and have them cover their cough. And use respirators, gloves, eye protection when they're in the patient with a patient with probable H1N1. As always, careful attention to hand hygiene is part of standard precautions that continue to be recommended. For novel H1N1 we currently also recommend that special procedures that might generate a fine aerosol be performed in a special room with negative pressure air handling so other parts of the hospital aren't exposed to potentially infectious material."

As we follow the spread of this virus and look at the charts showing REPORTED and confirmed cases, and then take a look at this graph of H1N1 confirmed cases in Australia on the blog Swine Flu in Australia, showing sharp increase in infections, it seems CDC recommendations somewhat overlap with the swine flu clinics all ready established in Scotland.