Story of Influenza Antivirals: Part 33

Of missing populations and serious harms

History records numerous interventions by public health authorities recommending or distributing antivirals for outbreaks of ILIs, especially in closed communities such as nursing homes. 

Writing in the BMJ, GP and author Margaret McCartney highlighted the problem when the medical director of NHS England wrote,

 “It is concerning that doctors may be deterred from prescribing antivirals and this could be putting lives at risk…..There is also an expectation defined in the GMC’s Good Medical Practice that a doctor will respond to an organisation advising on public health.”

McCartney responded with  

“this reads as a veiled threat: if GPs decide not to prescribe oseltamivir for all patients in a nursing home, lawyers and the GMC could dust down their robes and eviscerate the doctor for not following orders. In a no blame, patient centred NHS, things might be different.”

Dr Paul Roblin, who represented GPs in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire, wrote to his colleagues warning them of t…