At the time of writing, there were were almost 1,900 confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide in 24 countries. There were more than 1,100 in Mexico; more than 600 in the United States and on Wednesday 6 May Sweden and Poland reported their first cases. On the same day, the number of cases in the UK rose to 32.

Although the severity of the virus in terms of symptoms and mortality rates is still unknown, organisations and businesses are anticipating increased employee absence rates due to sickness.

The Society is urging Trusts and other healthcare providers to prepare themselves for the possibility of an influx of patients, with the potential to infect staff. SoR IR and H&S reps should work together with stewards from other unions to ensure that the employer is fully aware of the threat and has reviewed or revised current contingency plans and working practices and that they have advised staff accordingly.

The Department of Health has launched a swine flu toolkit for health professionals. The toolkit contains posters, adverts and messages from the 'Catch it. Bin it. Kill it.' campaign, which can all be downloaded.

Posted: 07/05/2009