Vaccination programmes for high risk groups and eligible staff are continuing and this is still the best way to prevent the spread of swine flu. Critical and intensive care places remain under pressure in some areas and hospitals will continue to manage cases using current plans.
The announcement that the National Pandemic Flu Service will be stood down was made in a letter from the Chief Medical Officer, Liam Donaldson, last week. It said that the web and phone service is being withdrawn because of falling numbers of cases and indications that the primary care workload generated by influenza-like illness is now manageable.
Management of the swine flu response will gradually revert to being locally led, with fewer major national changes. For example, it is now unlikely that planned for national changes in areas such as education and training for current cohorts of students will be needed.
The plans developed for pandemic flu have also been adapted for other emergency situations, such as winter.
See our pandemic flu pages for more details on swine flu planning and read the letter from the Chief Medical Officer on the Department of Health website.