BOSSES at Derriford Hospital have prepared extensive pandemic flu plans for what could be its busiest winter.

Mass vaccination of front-line staff, cancellation of routine operations, creation of isolation wards and restrictions on visitor numbers are among schemes being readied in case of a huge viral outbreak.

Administrative staff are being trained as health workers and thousands of facemasks and pairs of gloves are being delivered to the hospital each month.

It also has stocks of Tamiflu for distribution to patients.

Emergency planning and liaison officer Miriam Smith said: "We've been working on these plans for a long time. We're confident they're in place, but we recognise it would be a very challenging time."

She said the hospital was currently using 'a small number' of cubicles to isolate patients with flu symptoms and the impact had been minimal.

The worst-case scenario could see the entire hospital devoted to emergency healthcare, she said.

"We're preparing for one of our busiest winters," said Ms Smith.

"We don't know what the worst case will be but it could involve running a purely emergency hospital where we're caring for all emergency admissions, flu- and non-flu-related, but routine activity or planned appointments would not be progressing at that time."

Ms Smith said the scenario would be a new situation.

"There's a lot of scientific indication that we're overdue for a pandemic," she said.

"The early indications are that this is going to be a very severe winter with swine flu and seasonal flu, but we're not the experts on how severe it'll be. We're here to develop plans for what could potentially happen.

"As and when we're faced with this situation, whether now or in a few years' time, it'll be very different than we are used to."

Yesterday a House of Lords committee called for clarity on how intensive and critical care facilities would be expected to perform in a pandemic.

Derriford Hospital has around 1,100 beds and has had months of operational pressure. Emergency admissions for the year to date are 11.4 per cent above planned levels.

Ms Smith said the hospital had been working internally and with a range of other organisations in Devon and Cornwall to develop emergency flu plans over the past two years.

A multi-agency exercise, including the NHS, police and local authorities, took place in November to test a dedicated pandemic flu plan.

She said it would be implemented in a controlled way as demand arose and was flexible enough to respond to a small or large outbreak.

Precautionary measures were already in place to control swine flu and other infections, she said.

"At the moment we're running a small number of cubicles in a dedicated area of the hospital to deal with that," said Ms Smith.

"We're seeing patients admitted on a daily basis but they've been reasonably consistent at the moment."

She said isolated patients included some with flu only and some with other conditions as well.

Patients with suspected flu entered the hospital through a single point of entry, the emergency department, and were isolated immediately. Clinical staff wore protective equipment including masks, gloves and aprons.

Ms Smith said: "These are normal arrangements if a patient has a potential infection."

If admitted to a ward, the patient is then taken to an isolation cubicle and swabbed to see whether they need treatment.

Mrs Smith said that, if patient numbers continued to increase, whole flu wards would be opened. These would expand depending on demand until the whole hospital could be dedicated to emergency care.

The hospital had experienced low levels of staff sickness and was monitoring that as part of normal procedures, Ms Smith said.

Staff ill with viral symptoms, as with other infectious conditions, were advised to stay at home.

Ms Smith said: "As and when we do experience large numbers of staff being absent, we have plans to move staff from other areas within the hospital to front-line areas.

"This has two elements. Reducing out-patient activity will free up some clinical staff to work in other areas.

"Non-clinical staff will support the response as well.

"Administrative staff are being trained as health care assistants to work, potentially on the wards."

She said fewer than 50 non-clinical staff had so far taken part in a week-long course in case they needed to provide health care.

Doctors and nurses with critical care experience could also be retrained if necessary to increase the roster of emergency staff.

Ms Smith said hospital planners were holding regular meetings to monitor the situation.

Routine patients with flu symptoms are being urged to recover before coming into the hospital to prevent the spread of infection.

Contact the National Pandemic Flu Service at www.direct.gov.uk/pandemicflu or call 08001 513100.