Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Tamiflu distribution planning defended
By KATHERINE NEWTON - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 03/08/2009
Swine Flu
Pandemic managers have hit back at criticisms they had not worked out how to distribute Tamiflu to swine flu patients before the virus hit New Zealand.
Pharmacy Guild chief executive Annabel Young said pharmacists had raised concerns with her that methods of distributing the anti-viral drug were ad hoc and put them at greater risk of being "coughed on".
"The Government has prudently stockpiled Tamiflu but little thought seems to have been given over how to distribute them to all parts of New Zealand safely and in a timely manner."
Auckland district health boards resorted to sending couriers and taxis to deliver Tamiflu to individual patients in the early stages of the pandemic, which quickly became unsustainable as case numbers grew, Ms Young said.
Ngaire Buchanan, from the Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre, confirmed that taxis and couriers had been used to deliver Tamiflu at the beginning of the pandemic.
She would not say how much it cost.
However, Ms Young said she knew of one day when 90 trips were made in an afternoon at a cost of several thousand dollars.
Most district health boards had now designated certain pharmacies as "depots" for government stocks of Tamiflu, but many did not do this till several weeks into the pandemic, she said.
However, health officials say they had plans in place for a much more severe pandemic, which had to change when swine flu turned out to be milder than expected.
Greg Phillips, emergency services manager for Capital and Coast District Health Board, said that after the bird flu scare in 2007, the board had decided to assess patients and prescribe Tamiflu at community-based assessment centres, or C-BACs, in the event of a pandemic.
However, the initial slow spread and mildness of swine flu meant C-BACs were not necessary in Wellington.
"In reality, Christchurch was the only place where officials decided a C-BAC was needed.
"Thus we adapted our local pandemic response plan to select appropriate pharmacies to dispense Tamiflu."
Miramar pharmacist Ann Privett said Capital and Coast moved quickly once it decided to use pharmacies to distribute Tamiflu.
"What we got was very efficient."
However, she knew pharmacists in other regions were not as happy with their district health board's response.
"The one thing that it does highlight is inconsistencies throughout the DHBs.
"There should be one national plan for some things this being one of them."
Auckland pharmacist Paul Avery agreed the Health Ministry should have developed a national distribution plan, rather than leaving it up to each district health board.
"We're a small country. Having 21 different committees sorting out this is ridiculous."
Fran McGrath, deputy director of public health at the ministry, said district health boards had individual plans tailored to the needs of their region.
She was not aware of any major problems with Tamiflu distribution.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/swine-flu/2712852/Tamiflu-distribution-planning-defended
By KATHERINE NEWTON - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 03/08/2009
Swine Flu
Pandemic managers have hit back at criticisms they had not worked out how to distribute Tamiflu to swine flu patients before the virus hit New Zealand.
Pharmacy Guild chief executive Annabel Young said pharmacists had raised concerns with her that methods of distributing the anti-viral drug were ad hoc and put them at greater risk of being "coughed on".
"The Government has prudently stockpiled Tamiflu but little thought seems to have been given over how to distribute them to all parts of New Zealand safely and in a timely manner."
Auckland district health boards resorted to sending couriers and taxis to deliver Tamiflu to individual patients in the early stages of the pandemic, which quickly became unsustainable as case numbers grew, Ms Young said.
Ngaire Buchanan, from the Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre, confirmed that taxis and couriers had been used to deliver Tamiflu at the beginning of the pandemic.
She would not say how much it cost.
However, Ms Young said she knew of one day when 90 trips were made in an afternoon at a cost of several thousand dollars.
Most district health boards had now designated certain pharmacies as "depots" for government stocks of Tamiflu, but many did not do this till several weeks into the pandemic, she said.
However, health officials say they had plans in place for a much more severe pandemic, which had to change when swine flu turned out to be milder than expected.
Greg Phillips, emergency services manager for Capital and Coast District Health Board, said that after the bird flu scare in 2007, the board had decided to assess patients and prescribe Tamiflu at community-based assessment centres, or C-BACs, in the event of a pandemic.
However, the initial slow spread and mildness of swine flu meant C-BACs were not necessary in Wellington.
"In reality, Christchurch was the only place where officials decided a C-BAC was needed.
"Thus we adapted our local pandemic response plan to select appropriate pharmacies to dispense Tamiflu."
Miramar pharmacist Ann Privett said Capital and Coast moved quickly once it decided to use pharmacies to distribute Tamiflu.
"What we got was very efficient."
However, she knew pharmacists in other regions were not as happy with their district health board's response.
"The one thing that it does highlight is inconsistencies throughout the DHBs.
"There should be one national plan for some things this being one of them."
Auckland pharmacist Paul Avery agreed the Health Ministry should have developed a national distribution plan, rather than leaving it up to each district health board.
"We're a small country. Having 21 different committees sorting out this is ridiculous."
Fran McGrath, deputy director of public health at the ministry, said district health boards had individual plans tailored to the needs of their region.
She was not aware of any major problems with Tamiflu distribution.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/swine-flu/2712852/Tamiflu-distribution-planning-defended