Hospitals not prepared to deal with flu pandemic

Irish hospitals are not fully prepared to deal with a large outbreak of influenza, despite having the experience of dealing with a major pandemic of the disease in 2009.

The first study carried out in Ireland to establish how prepared acute hospitals in the Republic are for dealing with a flu pandemic found there was a lack of a standardised approach to dealing with an outbreak that could affect a large proportion of the population.

When an influenza pandemic occurs most of the population is susceptible and attack rates can range as high as 40%-50%.