Skip to main content
hpa logo
Topics A-Z:
Search the site:
Home › Products & Services › Local Services › South West ›South West Press Releases ›  HPA's H1N1 centres award
Printer friendly page (opens in new window)

HPA's H1N1 centres award

15 July 2010

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has been awarded the Cabinet Office Innovation in Resilience Award at this year’s Emergency Planning Society Awards.


This prestigious accolade was awarded jointly to the HPA and NHS to commend the “Flu Response Centres” that were established by the HPA, with assistance from the NHS, throughout England during the “containment phase” of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

The South West region had the first confirmed case of H1N1 in England and the first person to person transmission.

Shortly after the first confirmed case, the South West Flu Response Centre was set up to support the region’s health professionals.  Based in Bristol, it successfully dealt with over 9,000 calls in the containment phase (from June to July) and received good feedback from GPs who used the service.

Dr Brian McCloskey, Director of the HPA’s London region, collected the award on behalf of the HPA.

Dr McCloskey said: “We are delighted that the hard work by the HPA and NHS to set up fully functional, multi-agency, flu response centres at a time when swine flu was gathering pace and causing major health challenges has been recognised by the judges.

“The nine regional flu response centres in England coordinated the public health management of swine flu prior to the National Pandemic Flu Service going live. The teams involved were tasked with setting up centres staffed by health professionals, including consultants, doctors, nurses and medical students, to provide guidance to health professionals working on the front line. At the height of the pandemic’s first wave, the flu response centres were receiving thousands of calls and providing the latest advice on swabbing, treatment and containment measures.

“All of this was achieved from scratch in a matter weeks during what proved to be a rapidly evolving and high profile incident. It is to the credit of the HPA and NHS teams involved that the capability of mounting a resilient multi-agency response to an emergency situation, in a very short time frame, was demonstrated so successfully.”

 

Last reviewed: 15 July 2010