The swine are on holiday. Widespread opinion is that swine flu may grip the world with a vengeance this autumn, giving pharma companies a handy period to grow enough vaccine. The NHS will be on full alert. But here’s a statistic you don’t see too often: Birmingham University researchers have quizzed more than 1,000 health workers and found as many as 85% are likely to be absent if a flu pandemic hits. The NHS is planning on an absence rate of 10% – 35%. They’d failed to take into account the fact that NHS staff will stay at home to care for family members, even if they themselves don’t get the flu. Effective handling of an outbreak will depend on generating trust and confidence amongst the public, so that the NHS’s plans work well, and crisis is averted. These days people respond well to honesty: I liked the quote from the report’s author Dr Sarah Damery: “The problem is that there are no easy answers.” Refreshing! She’ll go far.
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