AN APPEAL has gone out from health bosses calling on recently retired clinicians to assist with the impending swine flu vaccination programme, which is expected to kick in over the coming months.

Front line staff within NHS Barnet are preparing for an increase in demand for treatments after a lull over the summer, and bosses believe they need to take on up to 200 more people to cope.

Health chiefs are aiming to recruit up to 100 additional clinicians to assist with the delivery of the vaccination programme, which is due to commence in October. They also want to employ up to 100 extra administrators to assist in providing essential administrative support with all swine flu related tasks.

Doctors are expecting the number of people developing flu-like symptoms to rise considerably in a potentially short time during the winter.

They claim the extra workers will help ensure they are fully prepared for the “surge in activity” by helping to deliver “essential and vital services”.

Back in June, Dr Andrew Burnett, director of health improvement and medical director at NHS Barnet, explained to Barnet Council's health overview and scrutiny committee that the borough was only experiencing a “mild first phase” of the H1N1 virus.

He predicted at the peak of a potential second phase, up to 23,000 people a week in the borough could require antivirals, over a two-week period.

Last month, the antiviral collection point (ACP) at Finchley Memorial Hospital was moved to Boots Pharmacy is Whetstone following a “considerable reduction” in the number of people using the service. At the time, bosses said it was not considered an “appropriate use of limited NHS resource”, claiming it would reopen when it was cost-effective and demand increased sufficiently.

Dr Burnett added additional antiviral collection points may need to be set up across the borough “if the numbers get to the size we are expecting, and at peak we are expecting about 250 people every hour to require antivirals”.

All positions, which are available on a full, part time or flexible hours basis, are being advertised at www.jobs.nhs.uk. For the clinicians role, applicatnts should enter reference 507-BANKPRACTITIONER-FLU or enter 07-BANKADMIN-PANDEMICFLU for the administrators jobs.