EndocrinologyMove From Daily To Weekly Welsh Assembly Government Swine Flu Reports, Wales
On 2 July, based on scientific advice, the UK moved to a new "treatment" phase in our response to the current swine flu pandemic.
The National Public Health Service for Wales has been collecting, compiling and releasing figures on a daily basis. These statistics set out the number of laboratory confirmed cases, as well as clinically presumed cases.
However, as part of the move to a treatment phase, new ways of collecting and publishing information about swine flu will come into effect.
We are now relying on clinical symptoms for diagnosing the illness rather than laboratory tests, although some patients will still be tested as part of our monitoring to get more information about the virus.
The routine swabbing and testing of community cases also ceases, except in those GP practices that are part of the extended surveillance scheme. Some testing will also be used in hospital in regard to assessing severe respiratory infection.
We will now rely on clinical diagnosis instead of laboratory confirmation of swabs to identify cases of swine flu, we cannot continue to measure total number of cases in the same way as we have been doing.
We will move to different set of data, which will give a fuller picture of the progress of swine flu.
The NPHS influenza surveillance schemes record reports of diagnoses of flu and people with flu-like illness in the last seven days from more than 300 GP practices across Wales. These show low levels of influenza activity in most parts of Wales, although activity is picking up in South Wales.
Further detail can be found on the NPHS website.
Up until now, we have issued daily update reports to stakeholders and the media and published these on the Welsh Assembly Government website.
We cannot continue to measure total number of cases in the same way as we have been doing for the reasons above, so from today we will stop issuing a daily update and move to issuing a weekly report.
New weekly reporting:
The new weekly report - to be published every Thursday in line with the rest of the UK - will include:
- NHS Direct call rates for symptoms likely to be colds or flu;
- The update of what has happened over the previous 7 days to the influenza consultation rate with GPs in Wales, provided by Strategic Coordination Group and LHB area and broken down by age group and gender; and an estimate of the actual numbers;
- A flu surveillance report in the same format as for normal winter seasonal influenza reporting including data from specifically recruited GP practices and laboratory sampling;
- Laboratory confirmed case numbers and samples tested by week;
- Hospitalisations and deaths; and,
- Comment from the Chief Medical Officer and National Public Health Services interpreting the data.
Although the Assembly Government will publish weekly reports, the National Public Health Service will continue to update its website daily.
Our change reflects the World Health Organisation-led move away from the "comprehensive assessment" component of surveillance, where the focus is on characterising the clinical, epidemiological and virological features of a new disease, to the "monitoring" component, where the focus is on monitoring geographical spread, trends, intensity and impact.
The UK has well established, and internationally-respected, surveillance systems for monitoring incidence and assessing the impact of seasonal influenza. These systems have operated well through the normal "flu season" over the last few years and we will build on them as we refine the revised surveillance system for swine flu.
In addition, the revised system will be supported by additional surveillance activities that are relevant to the pandemic situation. This will include continuing to assess the severity of disease associated with this novel virus, and monitoring changes in the characteristics of the virus.
Public health messages:
We know that the number of cases is only going to increase as the virus continues to circulate in many parts of the UK.
We would once again like to pay tribute to the NHS staff for the way in which they have responded effectively and efficiently in managing swine flu.
The Assembly Government - working closely with UK colleagues - has been planning for this for many years and is prepared for it, but everyone must play their part and remain vigilant.
If you have flu-like symptoms, stay at home. You can check your symptoms by calling the Swine Flu Information Line on 0800 1 513 513. If you are still concerned contact NHS Direct Wales on 0845 4647. People should not go to their GP or hospital accident and emergency departments as they risk spreading the infection.
For most people this illness is mild and they will get better within 5-7 days.
Because of the mildness of the virus for most people, we have stopped giving preventative medicine to people the patient has been in contact with, unless clinicians determine it is appropriate due to their medical conditions. The focus for antivirals is for at-risk groups, those with chronic conditions, or pregnant women or those under 5, and getting antivirals to these groups within 48 hours to maximise their effectiveness.
However, everybody needs to remember that although mild for most people, this is an infectious disease so the public needs to adhere to good respiratory and hand hygiene, in other words, catch it, bin it, kill it.
Welsh Assembly Government