WARRINGTON may not be totally prepared for swine flu should a pandemic spread around the world as NHS Warrington’s emergency flu pandemic plan has not met national standards.

At the beginning of this month bosses at the health body announced that their flu plan conformed to only 70 per cent of Department of Health guidelines.

They reassured the public that the plan should fully adhere to standards by the end of May.

In a statement yesterday an NHS Warrington spokesman said that since then the body had done a lot of work on its flu plan and was confident that it would hit Department of Health guidance if re-assessed.

“NHS Warrington has a robust plan in place for dealing with a pandemic, should a pandemic be declared," she said.

“We keep our plans under regular review and our planning has been informed by the biggest ever peacetime exercise on how to prepare for flu pandemic – undertaken in 2007.”

The World Health Organisation has said that it is too late to contain the swine flu epidemic, and on Monday raised its pandemic alert status to level four, just two levels from a full pandemic, after concluding the virus could be passed between humans.

A spokesman for Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the hospital and the NHS had been preparing for an outbreak of flu for many years, so there are systems and plans in place to deal with anything if it does spread.

However, at the moment there are no issues in Warrington the hospital is aware of.

National guidance is to stay at home if you have recently returned to an affected area and have flu symptoms, and call your GP or NHS Direct on 0845 4647.

There are enough stockpiles of Tamiflu and Relenza to treat around half of the British population.

“According to the World Health Organization, the UK sits alongside France as one of the best prepared countries in the world and at this point, we would like to reassure the public that there is no need to panic, plans are in place and will be implemented when necessary,” the NHS Warrington spokesman said .

Below is NHS Warrington's full statement.

NHS Warrington has a robust plan in place for dealing with a pandemic, should a pandemic be declared. We keep our plans under regular review and our planning has been informed by the biggest ever peacetime exercise on how to prepare for flu pandemic — undertaken in 2007.

All local health providers, including Warrington and Halton Hospitals Foundation Trust, 5 Boroughs Partnership Health Trust and GP, in addition to other Primary Care services have action plans in place to deal with a pandemic and at this point we are we are taking all steps that we should be at this stage.

Staff working within clinical services, including GPs and the hospital have been provided with advice and information and the BMA & RCGP has issued guidance on pandemic planning for General Practices. The PCT has been and will continue to work with all health care providers in Warrington on our local preparedness for a pandemic.

The NHS, earlier this year, put plans in place to increase supplies of flu drugs, making the UK one of the most prepared countries in the world.

The UK has antiviral stockpiles to provide treatment for 50 per cent of the population should they become ill and we are currently working locally to establish what stocks we have and we will require in preparation for their release.

Agreements made with Roche and GlaxoSmithKline earlier this year doubled antiviral stockpiles.

The contracts brought total capacity to 33.5 million treatment courses of Tamiflu and Relenza.

According to the World Health Organization, the UK sits alongside France as one of the best prepared countries in the world and at this point, we would like to reassure the public that there is no need to panic, plans are in place and will be implemented when necessary. There are simple steps that everyone can take to help prevent catching colds and flu based on good respiratory and hand hygiene.

Always use a tissue to catch your sneezes, throw away used tissues where germs can linger and regularly wash your hands.

Anyone who has recently travelled to the affected areas and is experiencing influenza-like illness should stay at home to limit contact with others and seek medical advice by phone from a local health professional of NHS Direct on 0845 4647 website nhsdirect.nhs.uk