Written question asked by Mark Todd (Labour) on Friday, 19 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 February 2010. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Friday, 26 February 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Swine Flu

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has reviewed the effectiveness of the swine flu pandemic campaign in changing influenza patients' behaviour in visiting their GP to seek treatment.

Answer: Our swine flu campaigns sought to convey different messages at different stages of the pandemic.People who developed swine flu symptoms, who had a serious underlying illness or were pregnant, as well as people who had a sick child under one year of age, were advised to contact their general practitioner directly. Other members of the public were encouraged to access the National Pandemic Flu Service if they developed swine flu symptoms. Over 2.7 million assessments were completed using the online and phone self-care services between July and February.All of our campaigns are subject to evaluation and we will be evaluating the overall effectiveness of our swine flu campaigns in due course.

Secondary information