Preparations for pandemic influenza has been developed by the Royal College of Physicians to help hospitals and staff coordinate care during an influenza outbreak.
The document is designed to indicate how specialties could adjust their patterns of work in order to cope during an influenza pandemic when staff and facilities available to care for patients may be reduced. The intended audience for this guidance is those involved in managing and strategic planning of clinical services, and clinical staff working in hospital specialties. Each specialty section has been written by an expert in the field. The document is not designed to provide detailed operational guidance for responding to an influenza pandemic.
The suggested blue and yellow card system (Appendix) of identifying patients who may or may not need to be seen urgently is a way of organising outpatient referrals in a pandemic, which could be used by consultants in consultation with Trust management.