Two of the emergency call centres established a month ago to cope with the alarm over swine flu will close this week with the loss of 1,200 posts.
The decision to "scale back" the number of telephone advice lines at the National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS) reflects decline in demand, according to the Department of Health. Infection rates have fallen back rapidly since the midsummer peak.
The announcement comes amid mounting controversy over the advisability of routinely prescribing antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu, to otherwise healthy adults who fall ill. Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued fresh advice stating that: "Healthy patients with uncomplicated illness need not be treated with antivirals."
Staff at the NPFS call centres, operated by NHS Professionals and private companies such as Teleperformance, have been able to authorise prescriptions for callers requesting antivirals. The drugs can be picked up at NHS-operated distribution centres.
More than 500,000 packs of Tamiflu were dispensed in the two weeks after the call centres opened on 23 July. Calls to the service peaked in late July but have been in decline ever since.
The two call centres scheduled to close are in Farnborough, Hampshire, and Watford. Their last shifts will be worked on Sunday; both are operated by NHS Professionals.
Teleperformance said that the three swine flu call centres it runs, in Bristol and Northern Ireland, are expected to remain open. As many as 2,000 operators, who were not medically trained, were initially recruited to answer calls.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "As the chief medical officer announced recently, we are scaling back the National Pandemic Flu Service to reflect demand. This is a flexible service so we can scale it back up when necessary."
The health service in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland never participated in the NPFS, advising their patients to contact local GP surgeries. The Department of Health has was warned that it expects a second wave of H1N1 swine flu infections in the autumn or winter.
A statement from NHS Professionals said: "As a result of much lower than expected call volume to the NPFS call centres, NPFS have decided to reduce capacity and as a result the call centres provided by NHS Professionals will be put on standby and will take no further calls until further notice.
"We understand this is the case with a number of providers. However, our call centre facilities remain available should call demand increase during the autumn and winter flu season."
