To think there are probably a lot of swine flu obsesives hogging the NHS Direct line without good reason?

[hobbgoblin]

You can't get through for advice on anything because they are overloaded with calls.

Obviously I expect more people to be calling because they have reason to be concerned but I just BET there are lots of people phoning thinking they have SF because they sneezed more than twice or because they saw some phlegm in their hanky that formed the shape of a pig if you closed your eyes up and tight and opened the left eye slightly to look at it.

Or even prevalent

I wonder where the figures are that seasonal is more prevalent than swine

they are not in the HPA Weekly epidemiological update which says precisely the opposite.

Who knows, that's what I was told! And my GP says he will NOT prescribe DS Tamiflu despite the asthma and the flu-like symptoms - even though he admitted that ANY flu could be dangerous for him.

Ah well, DD has come home from school with a letter confirming the first case at her school, who happens to be one of her football buddies. Wonder if that will change anything?

Well, it turns out we do all have swine flu in this house. I just thought I had asthma followed by an extraordinarily bad feverish cold, then ds gets a 39 degree temp and we're suddenly in paed A&E and he's on Tamiflu. So really, I should have been more neurotic and hogged NHS Direct instead of assuming it was no big deal - am on antibiotics for my chest now, and was too late to benefit from Tamiflu.

I think you're being a wee bit unreasonable.

If you have a query about your pregnancy
/labour four days before your due date, then surely the community midwife or the labour ward should be your first point of contact, especially if your problem may impact on your labour?

Saying that though, there is inevitably hysteria about things like swine flu thanks min no small part to the media hype about it.

I have flu symptoms and the fact it might be swine flu never even crossed my mind, but perhaps I should be worried, especially as I have an 8mo old baby in the house?

"I have flu symptoms and the fact it might be swine flu never even crossed my mind, but perhaps I should be worried, especially as I have an 8mo old baby in the house?"

DS is 8 months old. Tamiflu reduces length and severity - I'm now too late to benefit, and he's quite poorly. So, yeah - I'd call your GP. It didn't cross my mind till too late, either.

TBH - I agree with everything on this thread. Those without flu can (usually) get to seek direct medical help. It os those with uncomplicated swine flu who you would want to stay at home and self treat - with the advice of a Dr/nurse on teh phone - which is what NHS direct is.

But if someone had half a brain they could use a proposrtion (half, 75% maybe) of the NHS direct staff to man a DEDICATED swine flu hotline...or maybe just a numerical menu option within the NHS direct switchboard call directing thingy. That way those phoning with swine flu related queries can still get the support tehy need and deserve (and remain at home).

AND those of us with non-swine flu queries can still get through without actually fighting through crowds of swine flu queries because they are pre-filtered IYSWIM. But at least those with non-swine flu have there own call priority and aren't fighting against swine flu calls IYSWIM. Yes there will still be a wait as the resources are obviously still divided and stretched...but you don't get lost in the crowd IYSWIM.

I dunno...it may be how it is currently working (haven't called NHS direct recently)...but it sounds like an easy way to set up this so called hotline....and preserve at least a fraction of NHS direct lines for dedicated non flu enquiries IYSWIM.

It is just as you say - 'Press 2 for Swine Flu' or some such choice. Then hold on for a 15-minute plus 'short delay'.

I suppose that even with this precaution, resources are stretched. One might have thought that there has been enough recent publicity to have given them time to 'ramp up' the service in anticipation of such an overload. Ah well, I presume no axes of evil are involved, so maybe not.

Well, my point was really that there will be a proportion of histrionic individuals calling up. I don't begrudge the genuine queries, of course, and I suppose every query is genuine to the individual. However, it is frustrating knowing that some people are just not listening to any of the publicly available advice and calling without thought for just how necessary that call is.

I ended up speaking to MW who half resolved the issue but then had to deal with remainder of problem via GP. The GP phone was engaged constantly so I drove to the surgery in the end to be met with signs all over the surgery saying that 3 GPs were off sick due to Pandemic flu and to please use NHS Direct. Poor ladies on the Reception desk, don't know how they were managing to stay calm tbh.

Anyway, GP called me back within the hour and I am now the proud owner of several face masks which apparently are not too effective at keeping Chicken Pox at bay but is the best we could do.

What can NHS Direct tell you though that you couldn't research online?

That is a fair point actually. Mn is often quicker and just as accurate asa NHS direct .

Although there will be times where NHS direct is required

Definitive advice rather than specualtion on incubation times for CP.

Well nhs direct told us that dd1 wouldn't need tamiflu (she has asthma, which usually gets bad with every virus and cold), but the online research that we did seemed to imply that she should have it, there is also a lot of conflicting advice (some of it out of date) out there. It is much better to be ab;e to talk to someone if you have concerns.

I agree that a 'press 1 for swine flu' type switchboard would be good.

Well after a long and convoluted process, DS now has Tamiflu. Swine Flu is at DD's school, there are plenty of families with children at both schools and DS has asthma. GP was disturbingly non-committal, but when challenged admitted that if DS was his son he wouldn't hesitate to give him antivirals. Not my usual GP, so can't judge if it's just him being odd, or whether he too was confused as to what to do.

Worrying.

After a night's sleep, I think I should have been more assertive from the start. I SO didn't want to be one of those pushy, hypochondriac mothers. If you feel your DC need antivirals, insist, unless you can be given an explanation that makes sense to you. There seems to be confusion at the moment since I believe the guidelines changed at the weekend, they've gone from testing/containment to accepting that it's reached epidemic proportions. I still don't understand the reluctance to treat someone with underlying health problems though.

I think in our case it is because we didn't even think it could be swine flu until she had been ill for a few days, and I don't think there is much point giving them then.

It is awful that your dd hasn't been provided for Riven. The gp who i spoke to yesterday told me that vomiting wasn't part of swine flu, but everything else I have seen (including govt website and phone line) says it is, it is worrying how much conflicting advice is out there.