Government move comes as pressure grows on GPs and hospitals

A national swine flu help service that aims to speed up access to drugs for thousands of infected people will be launched today.

The government’s national flu pandemic service, which can be accessed by phone and internet, will be staffed by more than 1,500 people. Another 500 workers will be brought in if needed.

The service – which will only cover England – is being launched to help relieve mounting pressure on the NHS.

Its introduction comes amid what is expected to be a jump in the UK’s swine flu death toll, which currently stands at 31.

New figures showing the number of people contacting their GP, and the numberdying from the disease, will be released later today.

Workers staffing the service will have a checklist of symptoms, allowing them to diagnose callers and give out a numbered code enabling them to get Tamiflu anti-viral medicine.

More serious cases, such as pregnant women, people with health conditions and very young children, will still be referred to GPs.

Members of the public will also be able to use a website to access the checklist and get a voucher number.

The freephone number will initially only be operational during the day, but the Department of Health said it would be able to operate on a 24-hour basis if needed.

Details of the website address and helpline number have yet to be released.

The launch of the service was announced last week after a dramatic rise in swine flu-related calls and consultations piled pressure on GPs and hospitals.

A poll of health workers revealed that only around four out of 10 believed their organisation was managing to cope with the extra flow of patients.

The survey of almost 1,500 NHS managers, nurses and doctors, carried out by the Health Service Journal and the Nursing Times, showed that only 37% of clinicians, including doctors, nurses and midwives, agreed or strongly agreed that their organisation was coping well.

Another 30% neither agreed or disagreed, while 13% disagreed and 5% strongly disagreed.

However, many doctors and nurses said the government had provided useful advice to help them cope with the pandemic and most would not stay away from work if other staff became ill.

Staff were asked to rate their confidence on a series of questions on a scale of one to 10, with one not at all confident and 10 extremely confident.

In answer to the question “how confident are you that the NHS as a whole is well prepared to deal with the greater demand on services expected later in the outbreak?”, the average score was five.

Asked “how confident are you that there will be adequate supplies of swine flu vaccinations to protect the population?”, the average score was 4.8.

And in response to “how confident are you that there will be a practicable logistical plan to vaccinate all those who need immunisation?”, the average score was 4.6.

Yesterday, Gordon Brown said the government was making an “enormous effort” to tackle the pandemic.

The prime minister insisted “robust plans” were in place to fight swine flu and measures were being taken in a “calm and organised and ordered way”.

The UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said the first batches of its vaccine would not be available until September, with further shipments in 2009 and 2010.

The government has ordered up to 132m doses of the vaccine from GSK and another drug company, Baxter.

More than 700 people worldwide are known to have died after contracting swine flu, which the World Health Organisation says is spreading faster than any previous flu pandemic.