HPA Influenza Pandemic Contingency Plan

The document outlines the Health Protection Agency’s plan for responding to an influenza pandemic. It provides a framework for the HPA’s response to an influenza pandemic in the context of the UK Health Departments’ overarching national arrangements.Guidance is included so that individual divisions of the HPA can develop more detailed operational plans for their own areas of the response to include local and regional arrangements with NHS colleagues.Specific HPA objectives to support the national response are set out in areas of detection, diagnosis, management, control and prevention and to support this necessary implementation of programmes for service development, improvement and research. The scope of the HPA’s responsibilities is defined within the national arrangements.The epidemiology of pandemic flu and possible burden of illness is described including the scale and severity of illness and hence consequences, mortality in the UK and modelling studies to demonstrate speed with which the virus will reach the UK once cases occur elsewhere in the world. The possibility of more than one epidemic wave is discussed and the potential clinical and serological attack rate overall. Planning assumptions are made and control principles outlined at individual and mass population level with discussion on the use of antiviral drugs and the use of vaccination once it becomes available.The roles and responsibilities of the HPA, the Department of Health, Strategic Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts and Ambulance trusts are outlined. A brief description is given of work being undertaken by other supporting organisations such as World Health Organisation, European Surveillance Schemes and the European Union plus national partner organisations such as DEFRA, NHS Direct, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency and the UK Vaccination Industry Group (UVIG)WHO international phases of an outbreak and implications of a flu pandemic are summarized and the relation of UK alert levels to WHO international phases are included with clearly outlined responses and responsibilities at national, regional and local level for each UK phase. The post pandemic period is discussed and information on when this will be decided both by the WHO and in the UK.Appendix 1 gives details of the proposed Pandemic Working Group membership.