Is the UK Prepared for Pandemic Flu?

A British medical official is concerned the United Kingdom’s pandemic flu plans, which give local authorities the responsibility of implementing them, may not be the best policy. So who should be in charge?

According to an article on the Medical News Today website, Dr. Richard Coker, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warns that a lot of planning could be redundant in the case of a flu pandemic.

The article says Coker “questions whether timely and effective implementation in a time of crisis can be achieved under a devolved system and whether [the country’s] flu plans offer enough guidance for local planners on issues such as how to allocate scarce resources.”

The experience gained from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) taught officials that “there should be clarity established beforehand, as to what decisions are taken at what level and by whom during an epidemic,” Coker says. Government guidance also states that “all organizations and individuals that might have a role to play in emergency response and recovery should be properly prepared and be clear about their roles and responsibilities.”