Still counting the cost of swine flu scare

May 7 2010 by Helen Rae, The Journal

HEALTH chiefs spent more than £2m in the North East on the swine flu scare, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

A survey of 107 Primary Care Trusts in England highlights the cost of responding to swine flu was £340,000 on average for every trust.

But in Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland the cost in 2009/10 was higher than the national average, with £600,000 being spent by each PCT.

Meanwhile in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland the costs ran to £266,667 for each trust.

In total £2,600,001 was spent on battling the pandemic which cost 16 lives in the North East and 298 nationally – normal flu costs the lives of more than 1,000 people each year.

The money was invested in anti-viral collection points, storage and distribution of anti-virals and vaccines, additional equipment, staff training and public awareness campaigns.

Health bosses last night insisted no trust in the region would have to scale-back their services in order to accommodate the significant amount spent. Martin Wilson, of NHS North East said: “Resources for pandemic flu are allocated as part of NHS ongoing emergency planning arrangements.