Emergency services fear 25% of members could be infected

EMERGENCY services have warned as many as one in four of their members could contract human swine flu when responding to sick people needing hospital care.

Ambulance services under Dublin Fire Brigade believe that a number of patients that they are bringing to hospital could be treated at home. The fire brigade services, who respond to thousands of ambulance calls a month, say their units are now fully stocked with infection control supplies.

But there are fears many of its members will become infected while ferrying patients to hospitals, said Seamus Power, co-ordinator with the emergency medical section of the Dublin Fire Brigade.

“Our estimate is that 25% of our members may come down with the virus, but hopefully not all at the same time,” he told the emergency services Firecall magazine.

Emergency services have been equipped with gowns, gloves, masks and even goggles for responding to suspected H1N1 virus cases.

According to Mr Power, Dublin Fire Brigade ambulance personnel are receiving between two and three cases of swine flu a day.

However, so far the emergency services say they are confident in the Health Service Executive’s reaction plan to the pandemic. Hospitals are also up to speed in keeping infection levels low once patients are picked up by ambulance and transferred, added the Dublin Fire Brigade co-ordinator.

Fire brigade ambulance services say while a GP can advise a sick person to go home and rest with symptoms of swine flu, they must respond to all cases called into the 999 services.

“Because of guidance from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the World Health Organisation, we have a clear picture of what we’re [DFB ambulance personnel] to do.

“We are trained in infection control, so the current advice is mainly about what further infection barriers we should use,” Mr Power added.

The HSE said last night it expected to begin vaccinating frontline health working staff next week and this would continue over a four to six week period and eventually include up to 140,000 healthcare staff.