‘The welfare of cats and dogs will come before the fall-out from any terrorist attack in London under the capital’s new poison strategy’, warns the Unite trade union.
It said that the closure of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Poisons Information Service at the end of last month (July) will mean that information about the effects of any chemical attack by terrorists in the capital will be handled by centres elsewhere in the country.
The situation has been caused by the decision of the government’s Health Protection Agency not to fund the service which deals with a third of the UK’s poisoning inquiries.
The remaining units in Birmingham, Cardiff, Newcastle and Edinburgh will answer the ‘London’ calls.
However, vets will be able to contact the service in London about a dog that has eaten rat poison.
Unite is calling on the Public Health minister, Dawn Primarolo to reverse the decision.
Unite National Officer for Health, David Fleming said: ‘Unlike most major capital cities in Europe, London will be without a poisons centre.
‘At a time of heightened alert from terrorist attack and especially in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, London will be without a dedicated 24-hour telephone information service for chemical poisoning.’
However, Unite revealed that the forthcoming closure of the ‘human’ service in London, heavily used during the 7/7 attacks in 2005, will not affect the ‘Guy’s Poisons’ staff’s ability to provide a 24-hour service for poisoned animals.
Unite Regional Officer, Richard Munn said: ‘The scenario that “cats and dogs” are given priority above human beings is straight out of a Monty Python sketch.
‘Our concern is that doctors, nurses and ambulance personnel in London and the South East will not have access to a centre in London, so they may not speak to staff who have sufficient knowledge of the London area to be able to quickly pick up potential cases, trends or clusters of poisoning in London.
‘However, the same “Guy’s Poisons” staff will still be there providing a 24-hour service for poisoned animals, but will not be allowed to answer enquiries about NHS patients.’
In a letter to Primarolo, Munn pointed out in June:
‘There is no evidence that HPA (Health Protection Agency) have conducted a comprehensive, unbiased risk assessment, or impact assessment of all options before making their decision.
‘It will result in the loss to the NHS of the expertise of 15 specialists in poisons information who currently staff the service 24 hours a day and who were trained and employed at public expense.
‘GSTFT (Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust) are offering the telephone service for a very small sum of money, which represents good value for the public purse.’
