Zika Virus

(asked on 28th January 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what additional training has been provided to (a) NHS England and (b) Public Health England personnel on the Zika virus.


Answered by
 Portrait
Jane Ellison
This question was answered on 2nd February 2016

NHS England continues to work closely with Public Health England (PHE) and Government Departments to ensure appropriate advice is provided to the National Health Service in England in line with the current risk assessment. PHE will provide guidance and information specifically targeted at primary care and this will be available shortly. PHE has also produced regular briefing notes for local health protection teams who have been asked to share this with local NHS.

PHE has raised awareness about Zika virus among public health and clinical colleagues within PHE by circulating a briefing note to all staff. This will support clinicians to identify, investigate and manage cases that may present in clinical practice. The briefing note included information about the outbreak in the Americas and the unusual increase in microcephaly cases in Brazil. It highlighted existing resources available to PHE personnel, including the PHE Zika virus page:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/zika-virus

and the National Travel Health Network and Centre website:

http://travelhealthpro.org.uk/

An additional training session will also be provided to the duty doctors in PHE.

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