The Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, today told the Commons that the national pandemic flu service will go live later this week, with a dedicated telephone number and a website.
The service will, however, operate only in England; Wales will not benefit from it, “because the demand there is not so great”.
The Welsh health minister, Edwina Hart, says that Wales will not participate because “it is well behind the curve compared to areas of England”. I take it that she means that there are proportionally fewer cases of swine flu in Wales than in England, which is true, although new Welsh cases are being reported at the rate of 300 a day.
However, there seems, frankly, little good reason for Mrs Hart to opt out of the new service and much potentially to be gained by opting in.
I do hope it’s not simply a case of not signing up because she wants stubbornly and dogmatically to pursue her notorious, discredited “in-country” approach to healthcare. The Walton episode should have cured her of that.
Pingback: » Swine flu – no time for dogma « David Jones, MP Rhos On Sea:
The NHS Wales website for today (August 10) gives the rate for Wales as “73.7 cases of flu like illness diagnosed by GPs in the previous seven days out of every 100,000 people in Wales (as of 6 August)” and for England “42 cases of flu like illness diagnosed by GPs in the previous seven days out of every 100,000 people in England (for the week ending 2 August)”. (Scotland, for the record is at 55 per 100,000.)
Is it time for Wales to opt into the service that is available for patients in England?
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/newsitem.cfm?ContentID=12810