One flu over the family’s nest

Last Thursday afternoon, I discovered that two of my brothers would, for a brief moment in time, be at my parents’ house in Cardiff. I hadn’t seen either of them face to face for a number of years and we had not all been together for much longer. I guess like lots of families, we have, over the years moved around the UK and further afield. Whilst digital technology means it’s easy to keep in touch, busy lives often meant meeting up was difficult to make happen. It was an opportunity too good to miss. So, I cancelled my plans for Friday and J and I drove down to see them.

Getting up early we left and, despite the rain and very poor driving conditions, four hours later we were sitting in my parents’ house drinking tea and playing catch up. One of my brothers now lives in Bulgaria and loves it. He retired from the Metropolitan Police 12 years ago and now lives a quiet life in a small country village growing trees from seed. He says it won’t make him rich, but he’s very content with his life. Health care in his part of Bulgaria is good and, in the main, cheap to access. He pays the equivalent of £8 a month for his health care, which is then freely available, although he has to pay for any medication prescribed, which can be extremely expensive.

My other brother also retired from the Metropolitan Police many years ago and now lives in Dorset. He runs a falconry centre with over 100 birds of prey which he trains and exhibits at shows. He does a lot of conservation work and works with many children and young people’s charities. Those birds need a great deal of care. Every day they eat 400 day-old chicks between them; and every day they need to be weighed and handled and, where appropriate, flown.

Last week was also the anniversary marking the passing of one of my other brothers, who died before his time, 12 years ago. As we were all gathered together, it seemed right that we should mark the occasion somehow. In the end we decided to raise a glass of non-alcoholic champagne in his memory, which he would have found quite amusing. In life, he ran many pubs and enjoyed more than the odd tipple at times. Sadly, Christopher had long suffered poor health and died from sepsis-induced organ failure.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition. The number of people developing sepsis in the UK is rising. NHS England estimates that there are some 123,000 cases each year in England alone. Around 37,000 people die with a sepsis-related condition. Even for those who do survive sepsis, it may not be the end of their problems. Many patients end up living with all kinds of physical and mental health problems. They also have a much higher risk of death for up to five years following a sepsis episode. Research undertaken by colleagues at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals have identified a number of risk factors that might result in death occurring to sepsis survivors. Factors such as advanced age, long hospital stays, being male, and the severity of sepsis on admission all contribute to 15% of sepsis survivors dying with 12 months of leaving hospital.

Early recognition of the condition is vital if sepsis is to be successfully treated. The National Early Warning Score (NEWS) helps health care professionals recognise sepsis and start treatment within the hour. The sooner treatment is started the better the outlook. One of the problems is that sepsis can present in a number of ways and there is no one clear indicator or even a single test that can be undertaken, and diagnosis usually follows an analysis of a number of different tests. Added to this is that sepsis can initially look like gastroenteritis, or a chest infection or even flu.

And here I’m talking about real flu, as in influenza. Flu is a very common, and highly infectious disease. Like sepsis, it can cause serious health problems and even death, particularly for those in high risk groups. These will include young children and older people over the age of 65, and anyone with a chronic health condition involving the heart, kidneys or lungs. Flu epidemics can kill many thousands of people and, in some years, even millions of people. The World Health Organisation estimates that flu kills between 250,000 – 500,000 people around the world every year. The infamous 1918 flu epidemic is estimated to have affected over half the world’s population and killed between 40-50 million people. In the UK, an average of 600 people a year die from the complications of flu. But it's not always the case, and flu can kill people who are otherwise healthy. In the UK flu epidemic of 2008/09, some 13,000 people died from flu-related complications. Every year, flu leads to hundreds of thousands of GP visits and accounts for tens of thousands of bed days in hospital, most of which could be avoided by everyone getting the flu vaccination.

For many people it’s free to do. Increasingly, many organisations are providing vaccinations for their employees, as it makes good sense to prevent people having to take time off work through illness. And even if you are one of those who isn’t eligible, it is possible to get the vaccination for a small charge in lots of different places these days – see here for the ‘best deals’ on offer.  In the UK, the annual flu season runs from October to April. Most cases of flu occur between December and February. The flu vaccination will start to become available from this weekend. I’m having mine on 16th October.

To be frank, I think that everyone in the NHS who is working in a position where they have face to face contact with the public (patients, carers and others) should get themselves a flu vaccination. In Bulgaria, where health care provision falls way behind that expected and experienced in the UK, they are taking flu vaccination very seriously and this year will offer free vaccinations to most of the population. My call out to colleagues is get yourself vaccinated as soon as it possible to do so! And no, you can't get flu from the vaccination!