The bird flu crisis moved a step closer to Britain's shores yesterday as the country's most senior medical adviser demanded that all doctors draw up emergency plans to distribute 14 million doses of drugs to combat the disease.
As the deadly virus entered Europe for the first time with confirmed cases in Romania, Sir Liam Donaldson said that all of Britain's 34,000 GPs would be told to prepare for a massive influx of patients if a bird flu pandemic hit the country.
Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, who advises the government, will tell every practice in the country to gear up for the 'inevitable' event. He said that doctors will be needed to hand out more than 14 million doses of antiviral drugs and ensure home visits for patients to free hospital beds and minimise deaths.
'This is public health enemy number one,' Donaldson told The Observer. 'It is at the top of our priority list and it is a when, not whether.' He said the world was now long overdue a flu pandemic and his team was working with the assumption that it would hit one in four Britons, killing 53,000 people. 'That is the most likely scenario,' he said.
His order for GPs to get ready for more patients and a larger workload will come on Thursday, when he will also reveal Britain's updated emergency plans.
The move comes as the deadly virus was confirmed to have entered Europe for the first time. British scientists announced yesterday that three birds found dead in Romania had been infected by H5N1, the lethal strain of avian flu. It is the same strain that was found in 2,000 birds in Turkey last week.
The news has caused panic across Europe, with people rushing to pharmacies in France, Greece and Switzerland in search of anti-flu drugs. Many pharmacists say stocks have run out.
The government has ordered 14.6 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, but the full stock will not arrive until September 2006. Gordon Brown reacted to fears about bird flu by announcing a £2 million injection into research designed to combat the spread of the disease. The money will fund a research programme by the British Medical Research Council and its Chinese equivalent.
Donaldson said the whole NHS was gearing up, but GPs would be on the front line. He dismissed rumours that members of the army would be used and said Britain would be relying on its doctors. GPs in an area covering 100,000 people will have to cope with 1,000 extra patients every week at the peak of the pandemic, according to government estimates.
He defended the position of the NHS and said there were plans in place if the pandemic hit in the next few months, but admitted it would be better if there was more time to prepare. He said the country would not be fully prepared until 2006.
But last night GPs hit back, saying they were not informed about bird flu and felt ill-equipped to reassure worried patients. In a poll run on Doctors.net.uk, used by more than four out of five doctors, 77 per cent said they felt they did not know enough to reassure patients. Many said they had got more information from the media than the Department of Health.
Neil Bacon, chief executive of Doctors.net.uk said: 'GPs are worried there will be a rush (by patients) and are saying that what they know about avian flu is what they have heard on the radio or read in the newspapers.'
Donaldson said that information was available on NHS websites and he had included it in his quarterly report to doctors. But Bacon said: 'That report was two months ago, but doctors feel they need more information now.' Last night the Conservatives criticised the government for moving too slowly. Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said he had asked for drugs to be stockpiled in June last year, when emergency plans were taking shape in France.
'The orders were placed on 1 March this year. That is too slow for me,' he said.
