Important Londonwide CEO message number 12 - 14 July 2009
I felt you would want to see the press release issued by the BMA yesterday following the death of our Bedfordshire GP colleague Dr Day.
Our message to the public remains unaltered, and has now been taken up by the media generally – Buy a thermometer – Take your temperature properly – If 38 or over contact us for advice.
Our message to you remains unaltered – if febrile with symptoms or pre-existing conditions, use your clinical judgement to decide whether to issue normal flu advice or prescribe Tamiflu.
You and your staff are doing an amazing job. We will continue to play our part in giving you timely commonsense information, dealing with the media and London's public, and providing on-the-ground intelligence to those who negotiate on our behalf and to the NHS.
BMA statement - GP dies after contracting swine flu
Commenting on the news that a GP has died after contracting swine flu, Dr Laurence Buckman, Chairman of the BMA's GPs Committee, said:
Our first thoughts are for Dr Day and his family and for all other victims of swine flu.
While these individual deaths are tragedies for the families concerned it is very important that members of the public do not panic, and continue to follow health advice about swine flu and managing it if they are infected.
Doctors have always accepted that there are risks associated with their job. Obviously these are smaller than they used to be with the advent of modern medicine, but they can never be eliminated altogether.
It is understandable that people will be worried when they hear that a GP has died but we urge them to follow the recommended advice and contact their family doctor, rather than physically going to the surgery if they have symptoms. The vast majority of people will recover quickly by taking paracetamol or ibuprofen, and drinking plenty of fluids. Anyone who is not recovering quickly should get extra advice as a small number will need more intensive treatment.
We must remember that every year there are deaths from complications of seasonal flu; this is unfortunately inevitable with any strain of influenza.”
Ends