O'Brien attacks Labour's failure to put National Flu Line in place

New research has revealed that the National Flu Line Service, a key part of the Government’s framework for dealing with pandemic flu, is still not in place – a year and a half after it was announced.

The phoneline, which is meant to come online when pandemic flu reaches ‘Phase 5’ by the World Health Organisation’s categorisation, is supposed to be able to take a minimum of 6 million calls a week.

But Lord Darzi has admitted that the line will not be ready until autumn this year – meaning the country will be without it for at least 5 months after cases of swine flu were confirmed in the UK.

Stephen O’Brien, the Shadow Health Minister, said, “The National Flu Line will be crucial if a pandemic were to happen in Britain, by allowing people to get the information and the anti-virals they will need to fight the flu without having to go to GP surgeries or hospitals.”

He stressed, “It is absolutely imperative that the Government takes action quickly to ensure that it is able to deal with the high numbers of calls from people who will need help should the (swine flu) virus spread in the UK.”