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 a decline in demand, according to the Department of Health. Infection rates have fallen back rapidly.
The announcement comes amid 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 issued 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 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. The two call centres scheduled to close are in Watford and Farnborough, Hampshire. Their last shifts will be worked on Sunday; both are operated by NHS Professionals. Call centres run by Teleperformance in Bristol and Northern Ireland, which also form part of the NPFS network, are expected to remain open. As many as 2,000 operators, who were not medically trained, were 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 warned that it expects a second wave of H1N1 swine flu infections in the autumn or winter.
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."
Research published in the British Medical Journal today shows that just over half of healthcare workers surveyed in Hong Kong say they would not be vaccinated against swine flu because of fears of side effects and doubts about efficacy.
The Nursing Standard magazine today reports that specialist cancer nurses are being redeployed to help with swine flu work, in Northumberland and other places. A Northumberland Care Trust spokeswoman confirmed it draws staff from a wide range of services. She said: "We are required to include a nurse in the team at each antiviral collection point."
