Herefordshire is well prepared for Swine Flu

At a meeting of its board last week, NHS Herefordshire, the leader for healthcare in the county, received assurance that it has robust systems in place to manage a swine flu pandemic in the county.

As part of a West Midlands-wide exercise, all primary care trusts have undertaken a self-assessment to establish whether their plans will cope with a pandemic over the coming months.

Many areas were tested, including leadership across the local health and social care economy, and across borders, capacity and staffing issues, business continuity plans, communications and infection control.  The majority of the areas were assessed as “green” on a traffic light (red, amber, green) scoring system.  No “red” areas were identified.

Sue Doheny, director of quality and clinical leadership for NHS Herefordshire commented, “The outcome of the assessment is very positive and demonstrates the considerable work that has been undertaken locally to ensure we have good systems and processes in place.  Clearly, this reflects a moment in time, and we will ensure that work in this area continues to be a priority as other seasonal pressures put additional stresses on our systems.”