LONDONDERRY funeral directors have received letters from Derry City Council's Department of Environmental Health advising them how to protect themselves and their staff from swine flu, the Sentinel can reveal.
The Council Department passed two pieces of specific guidance on swine flu to local funeral directors at the request of the Chief Environmental Health Officer at the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS).
A report to be pr
esented to a meeting of Derry City Council's Environment Services Committee today, Thursday, November 5, says local funeral directors have been "forwarded two pieces of specific guidance to funeral directors to ensure that they are aware of the precautions they need to take to protect themselves and their staff from swine flu."
One of the documents was first issued by the Health and Safety Executive in Great Britain in 2005 and is entitled "Controlling the Risks of Infection at Work from Human Remains."
The second has been produced by the Department of Health in collaboration with the National Association of Funeral Directors and the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors and is entitled "Pandemic Flu: Guidance for Funeral Directors."
The Council's Department of Environmental Health states: "Both documents provide practical advice on the approach to managing risk.
"In the case of influenza the measures to be adopted are similar to those for other commonly occurring respiratory viruses, but using appropriate personal protective equipment and attending to good standard of personal hygiene."
Meanwhile Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey yesterday that the weekly reporting of swine flu deaths was the right and appropriate step to take.
Mr McGimpsey said: "As Health Minister my first priority is to protect the public and patients and in particular, to respect the privacy of families who have lost a loved one.
"I also must ensure that key public health messages regarding swine flu and the steps we are taking to deal with the pandemic are publicised widely and in a timely way.
"Our policy has always been to be open and transparent in relation to reporting emerging issues about swine flu. Up until last week, this included publicising swine flu-related deaths as soon as possible.
"This policy is no longer sustainable for a number of reasons. First and foremost, we know that for those families who have just suffered the death of a relative, to then be asked to release personal information for publication is very intrusive and deeply upsetting.
"Secondly it has become clear that the vast majority of families do not wish to have any details released and only want to grieve in peace."
