Confidence key to dealing with pandemic
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Confidence would be a key element of successfully dealing with pandemic influenza, Deputy Chief Executive of Hillingdon PCT Yi Mien Koh said in the session on Responding to risk: pandemics, politics and pragmatism. The public needed to have confidence in you, she said, ‘but you also need to have confidence in your own message, based on science, epidemiology and personal preparedness.'
Hillingdon had taken a programme management approach and established the Pan London Flu Steering Group, she said, agreeing action plans with identified leads and close collaboration with the Health Protection Agency. ‘After one year we now have a consistent approach to planning across London ,' she said.
There had been self-assessment and independent assessment of Trust and PCT flu plans, she said, and stockpiling of personal protection equipment and consumables was well underway. She understood that in some Trusts finances were very tight, but stressed that the often parallel streams of flu planning and emergency planning needed to come together.
There was a danger of flu fatigue creeping in – a sense of ‘when's it going to happen?', and there was also a danger that fear of a pandemic could have a disproportionate impact to the pandemic itself. It was essential to alert people to good practice, such as identifying a good neighbour or friend they could call if they were affected. In terms of preparedness for a pandemic, public health, the NHS and the HPA could not survive without each other, she said.