A national flu service will be launched later this week in England to relieve the pressure on the health service.

He also defended the government against claims from opposition parties that the service was a month late. He said the government had wanted to wait until the health service was under intense pressure before acting.

In the past week, there have been 55,000 new cases of swine flu and every region in England is seeing "exceptional" levels of demand with the exception of Yorkshire and the Humber. The service will not cover Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland as the demand there is not as great.

SWINE FLU SYMPTOMS

• High temperature, tiredness and lowered immunity
• Headache, runny nose and sneezing
• Sore throat
• Shortness of breath
• Loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhoea
• Aching muscles, limb and joint pain

Source: NHS

Mr Burnham said: "Technology to launch the service has been available for some time. But with these latest figures and drawing on advice from the field we have now reached a point where this service is required. To act any sooner would have been a distraction to health staff dealing with it."

And in the face of claims of conflicting advice to pregnant women, Mr Burnham also denied that the guidance had changed since the start of the outbreak. Some reports at the weekend suggested that women should even consider not getting pregnant and those that already are should avoid crowded places. But Mr Burnham said the official advice was that women should think carefully about unnecessary travel and mixing with crowds.

He added the advice was "not hard and fast" and said people should use their own judgement and not alter their daily routines or avoid going to work. Dr Laurence Buckman, the British Medical Association GP leader, said it was the right move to set up the flu service.

"Most GP practices, especially those in hotspots, are experiencing huge demand at the moment."

He added that if used properly the service would allow doctors to focus on those with the most severe symptoms as well as their regular patients. Sir Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer for England, said it was important that the new flu service was being launched now, ahead of the predicted surge in demand. He said: "If we do have glitches and problems we will be able to deal with them and iron them out before we get the really heavy demand in the autumn and winter."

Source: BBC

For the full article go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8159316.stm