Hammersmith girl is sent home by panicked staff
Staff at an NHS clinic in Parsons Green have been accused of 'panicking' when a schoolgirl who may have been exposed to swine flu came into their NHS walk-in centre after being referred there by her Hammersmith GP.
The girl's mother, Sarah Baker, wrote a letter to medical journal the Lancet, published on June 19, which described how 'chaos' greeted her attempts to obtain anti-flu medication for her daughter.
The girl had learned that her public school in Buckinghamshire had confirmed its first case of swine flu on June 4. In addition there were six other 'probable' cases. Her daughter had returned home to London earlier that day.
Her family were alerted by email to the possiblity of infection and urged to contact their local GP for a course of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu.
Following an argument over whether Buckinghamshire's PCT or Hammersmith and Fulham's PCT should provide the drugs, the girl was told by her GP to go to the nearest walk-in centre, Parsons Green, in Fulham.
Mrs Baker wrote: "My daughter duly obeyed, and arrived at the centre where she asked for the oseltamivir [Tamiflu] and relevant tests. Panic ensued. She was swiftly taken to an isolation room and left there. About 20 minutes later, she was told unequivocally to leave the building."
Her doctor again insisted she should stay home and wait for the drugs to be delivered. However, the nurse said she must collect them – from the same Parsons Green clinic.
A spokesman from Hammersmith and Fulham PCT commented: "Clearly, Mrs Baker was given some bad advice, which led to this unfortunate situation, and we are looking into it.
"The correct advice to people with flu-like symptoms is to stay at home. If antivirals are needed they will either be delivered or a 'flu friend' may be asked to collect them."
Mrs Baker said her daughter has not had any symptoms, but that she had been 'alarmed at the chaos of the response we encountered, to say the least.'
The latest figures for swine flu show that 1,582 people in the UK have contracted the swine flu since the pandemic began.
.June 24, 2009