Nearly 100 people a day are receiving anti-viral drugs in Kingston, as swine flu continues to spread.
Preparing for the outbreak of swine flu has cost Kingston NHS nearly £20,000 but this is expected to increase rapidly in the next few months, according to the GP in charge of controlling the pandemic.
Jonathan Hildebrand, Kingston’s director of public health, said: “In the past week the number of cases presented has started to increase locally.
“It is getting more difficult to determine the number of people who have swine flu.
"If you are talking the number of people who receiving anti-virals in the past week or so, it is in the order of 80 prescriptions a day.”
GPs are “buddying up” to support each other during the surge in calls to their practices.
There is £500,000 set aside to deal with swine flu, not including the costs of staff time. Kingston will take part in a readiness exercise on September 24 in central London.
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