Flu, I've had it up to here....

Well, three weeks on the front line, and I still have no idea just what it is we're supposed to be doing.
We now have a flu hot-line staffed by well meaning volunteers, who having had three hours of intensive training, may know something about applying plasters, but are woefully ill equipped to deal with medical issues. Using NHS algorithms will for sure reduce the chance of major cock-ups, but will also catastrophically over treat a majority of patients and will undertreat the severe throat infections, chest infections and other possible causes for the symptoms we are asked to check for.
To boot to avoid the chance of missing meningitis, any reference to pain when looking at lights triggers an immediate recommendation to ring 999.
The fact that they keep telling the patient to ring the GP too, even having sorted out the Tamiflu, does seem to defeat the object of the exercise !!
Now then, as we're not supposed to issue more than one course per patient, what happens when the guy who had Tamiflu for his cold last week, gets swine flu for real next month ?
Will we generate resistance by dishing out Tamiflu like smarties for every viral infection suffered in the UK for the next 6 months.
I don't know, but tragically, neither it seems does anyone else....
Hmm.
And whilst I'm on..Lord Darzi !!
Having spent three years pretty effectively denigrating and deconstructing the Primary Care services in the whole country, while actually trying to fix London, his next task was to look at redesigning all his old mates in the Secondary Care sector.
"So Arya, fancy upsetting all your Consultant chums now ?"
"Err, No thanks. I think I'll resign now, while I'm ahead."
I trust they'll now put a GP in charge of that agenda..although a GP might have better insight into Hospital Care, having worked in them for three years, than an academic surgeon, who's probabaly only seen three afternoons of Primary Care in his life.