Swine Flu: Fury over drug collection points
“For ‘swine flu friends’ who are collecting antiviral drugs to have to walk through the busy town centre, when they are so likely to have been in contact with the victim, seems a crazy idea to me. To this end I will be contacting the care trust to ask it to look for an alternative location that is readily accessible by public transport, has free parking and the prescence of the antiviral collection point will not affect the current activities at the site.”
Solihull NHS Care Trust and Solihull Borough Council said there had been disruption to services in Solihull.
Director of Public Health Stephen Munday said: “It’s important that we ensure the best use of council and care trust resources including the time of their dedicated staff whilst providing an accessible service.
“Libraries have been used as antiviral collection points across the country. Unfortunately there has been some disruption to the library and theatre box office, however the full range of services is still being provided from within the library complex.
“The council is keeping these arrangements under review and will be closely monitoring the situation.
“Support has been given to those organisations that were due to use the studio space and they have been helped to find alternative locations.”
The number of collection points in Solihull has been a bone of contention as it has just two while other primary care trusts have up to 47. Health watchdogs have complained there has been no clear link between numbers of collection points and population sizes.
The different approaches from region to region have seen Worcestershire health chiefs reduce its availability of antiviral collection points in the past week, while South Staffordshire has increased its numbers during the same period.
New centres have opened in community pharmacies in Burntwood, Stone, Wombourne, Uttoxeter, Stafford, Tutbury, Tamworth, Cannock and Burton upon Trent, bringing the total to 15.
There are over 60 antiviral collection points open across the West Midlands and more than 40,000 people in the region have collected antivirals.
