On logging on to the National Pandemic Flu Service website, you are greeted with a home page explaining that the site can be used to obtain authority for anti-viral medication for swine flu, after answering questions about symptoms.

After pressing "start", you are taken to a page which demands you agree to a disclaimer undertaking not to misuse the service. This reflects criticism that the service is open to abuse because patients can effectively self-prescribe in a few minutes by navigating the interactive questionnaire to obtain Tamiflu.

There is nothing to stop people – for example, "the worried well" – who are determined to get Tamiflu making multiple attempts until they are given the reference number which can then be used to get the drug, which treats symptoms of the virus. As well as the website, 1,500 call staff have been employed to answer a helpline on 0800 1513100 where callers are asked the same questions as on the website.

On the site, after agreeing not to misuse the service, the next screen attempts to assess whether someone needs emergency treatment, asking questions about whether a patient is unconscious, unable to breathe properly or if their skin is turning blue. A yes answer leads to a prompt to dial 999.

A no answer leads to a similar test, this time asking about rashes or paralysis. Another no answer takes you to a screen asking for details of the patient's name, date of birth and address. There is then a question on whether the patient has renal or kidney treatment. After this stage, the flu diagnosis starts. Does the patient have a temperature and one of a number of other flu symptoms, including cough, headache, sore throat, vomiting, the website asks.

Yes? Then you are asked whether these symptoms lasted more that a week and have they previously been treated with Tamiflu or Relenza?

If no, another screen inquires whether the patient is breathing faster than usual, has strange coloured phlegm or chest stabbing pains. If no, does the patient have immune deficiency, HIV positive. No again?

Another screen attempts to discover whether the patient is in a high risk group – including asthma, diabetes, liver disease – and should see their GP. Further flu symptoms are then assessed: persistent vomiting, earache.

That is the last question. If yes, antiviral treatment is authorised and a 12-digit code, including numbers and letters, generated.

"The patient should stay at home and have their antiviral collected by a friend," the site says. To find a convenient collection point you are asked to click on a link, taking you to a drop down list of regions and towns.

Concerns have been raised about the collection points. One member of the public who contacted the Guardian said: "There are not many collection points. Only four in the whole of Berkshire. Two Boots, a Sainsbury's and at West Berkshire community hospital in Thatcham. West Sussex wasn't even on the map."

He collected Tamiflu from a centre staffed by volunteers by producing his son's birth certificate and a utility bill. "There were no demand for photo ID, and they did not photocopy my documents," he added. "That is quite important as it means they have no way of proving fraud at a later stage."

Symptoms

People may have swine flu if they have two of the following symptoms:

Typical symptoms of H1N1:

• sudden fever (a body temperature of 38C/100.4F or above) and

• a sudden cough

Other symptoms may include:

• headache

• tiredness

• chills

• aching muscles

• limb or joint pain

• diarrhoea or stomach upset

• sore throat

• runny nose

• sneezing

• loss of appetite

Who should use it?

For the moment the helpline is only for people who live in England or are registered with a GP there. There are plans to expand it to cover Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is ­ designed to help healthy individuals get Tamiflu as quickly as possible. But there are five groups who should only contact their GP. They are :

• Those with an underlying illness;

• Pregnant women;

• Those with a sick child under one;

• Those whose condition suddenly gets worse;

• Those who are getting worse after seven days (five days for a child).

Source: Department of Health