Swine flu helpline blunders

AS MANY as 9 out of 10 sick patients phoning the swine flu hotline have been misdiagnosed, a study has revealed.

Only THREE out of 30 patients told they had it actually tested positive for the virus later - while FIVE people had other life-threatening illnesses which had been missed.

One patient had MALARIA, three had the deadly brain bug MENINGITIS and another had the serious HEART CONDITION tuberculous pericarditis. None had been previously diagnosed.

About half had taken anti-viral drug Tamiflu after contacting the National Pandemic Flu Service, the study by the Royal Liverpool University Hospital found.

Researchers said call handlers needed to be better trained and the computer program used to diagnose swine flu improved as it has been wrongly identifying too many cases. Dr Mike Beadsworth, who led the study, said: "Some of the patients could have died because they had conditions such as malaria.

"The Government should not scrap the hotline but it needs to be reassessed."

At the height of the epidemic in August the lines were being staffed by 16-year-olds waiting for their GCSE results.

One GP, who did not want to be named, told researchers a patient had DIED of meningitis after an incorrect phone diagnosis.

Another doc in Derbyshire said a three-year-old given Tamiflu by the hotline actually had bacterial pneumonia.

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