Here you can find the HPC's positional statement, and general information on the new strain of influenza A (H1N1)

As swine flu spreads across the country and more people start to catch the virus the UK Health Departments have agreed to move from containment and outbreak management policies to the treatment phase.

It has agreed a framework of ethical principles, which must inform the provision of health services in a pandemic.
For more information please see the Department of Health website.

What is Swine Flu?
A new strain of Influenza A (H1N1), also known as swine flu, was confirmed in the UK in April and has spread to more than 100 countries around the world.
Although symptoms have generally proved mild, a small number of patients will/have developed more serious illness. Many of these people have other underlying health conditions, such as heart or lung disease, that put them at increased risk.

What is an epidemic and a pandemic?
An epidemic is a sudden outbreak of disease that spreads through a single population or region in a short amount of time.
A pandemic occurs when there is a rapidly-spreading epidemic of a disease that affects most countries and regions of the world.
Swine flu is now a pandemic. Pandemic flu occurs when an influenza virus emerges that is so different from previously circulating strains that few, if any, people have any immunity to it. This allows it to spread widely and rapidly, causing serious illness.

HPC guidance to all registrants
Every registrant has to remain safe and effective in their scope of practice and keep to the legislation that influences their practice. Each registrant is responsible for ensuring that they only undertake tasks where they are confident they can do so safely and effectively and to ensure that any actions are appropriate in the circumstances.

In an emergency situation, such as pandemic, we recognise that registrants might be asked to undertake additional tasks which would normally be outside of their scope of practice. If such an occasion took place, we recognise that a registrant may have to work in areas that normally we would consider are outside of their scope, because of these special circumstances. In general terms we would not penalise a registrant for working outside of their scope of practice in an extreme situation such as that, if they did so because it was necessary and consistent with their duty of care to patients and others.

Often employers would make their own requirements and adopt policies about how to respond in emergency circumstances, which registrants would often have to follow as well.

As stated in the Standards of Proficiency ‘as long as you make sure that you are practising safely and effectively within your given scope of practice and do not practise in the areas where you are not proficient to do so, this will not be a problem. If you want to move outside of your scope of practice you should be certain that you are capable of working lawfully, safely and effectively. This means that you need to exercise personal judgement by undertaking any necessary training and experience. ‘

The Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics (SCPE) is a statement of standards which all registrants must read and agree to abide by in order to remain on the Register. In light of the swine flu pandemic the HPC would suggest registrants continue to follow the Standards of Proficiency for their respective professions and refer to the SCPE, in particular standards,1, 6 & 11 as follows:

1. You must act in the best interests of service users.
You are personally responsible for making sure that you promote and protect the best interests of your service users. You must respect and take account of these factors when providing care or a service, and must not abuse the relationship you have with a service user. You must not allow your views about a service user’s sex, age, colour, race, disability, sexuality, social or economic status, lifestyle, culture, religion or beliefs to affect the way you
treat them or the professional advice you give. You must treat service users with respect and dignity. If you are providing care, you must work in partnership with your service users and involve them in their care as appropriate. You must not do anything, or allow someone else to do anything,
that you have good reason to believe will put the health or safety of a service user in danger. This includes both your own actions and those of other people. You should take appropriate action to protect the rights of children and vulnerable adults if you believe they are at risk, including following national and local policies. You are responsible for your professional conduct, any care or advice you provide, and any failure to act. You are responsible for the appropriateness of your decision to delegate a task. You must be able to justify your decisions if asked to. You must protect service users if you believe that any situation puts them in danger. This includes the conduct, performance or health of a colleague. The safety of service users must come before any personal or professional loyalties at all times. As soon
as you become aware of a situation that puts a service user in danger, you should discuss the matter with a senior colleague or another appropriate person.

6. You must act within the limits of their knowledge, skills and experience and if necessary refer the matter to another practitioner.
You must keep within your scope of practice. This means that you should only practise in the areas in which you have appropriate education, training and experience. We recognise that your scope of practice may change over time.
When accepting a service user, you have a duty of care. This includes the duty to refer them for further treatment if it becomes clear that the task is beyond your own scope of practice. If you refer a service user to another practitioner, you must make sure that the referral is appropriate and that the service user understands why you are making the referral. In most circumstances, a person is entitled to be referred to another practitioner for a second opinion. In these cases, you must accept the request and make the referral as soon as you can.If you accept a referral from another practitioner, you must make sure that you fully understand the request. You should only provide the treatment if you believe that this is appropriate. If this is not the case, you must discuss the referral with the practitioner who made the referral, and also the service user, before you begin any treatment or provide any advice.

11. You must deal fairly and safely with the risks of infection.
You must not refuse to treat someone just because they have an infection. Also, you must keep to the rules of confidentiality when dealing with people who have infections. For some infections, such as sexually transmitted infections, these rules may be more restrictive than the rules of confidentiality for people in other circumstances. We discussed confidentiality in more detail earlier in this document. You must take appropriate precautions to protect your service users and yourself from infection. In particular, you should protect your service users from infecting one another. You must take precautions against the risk that you will infect someone else. This is especially important if you suspect or know that you have an infection that could harm other people. If you believe or know that you may have this kind of infection, you must get medical advice and act on it. This may include the need for you to stop practising altogether, or to change your practice in some way in the best interests of protecting your service users.