Southend's health services are completely unprepared for an outbreak of Sars, a doctor has claimed.

The doctor believes Southend Primary Care Trust (PCT) is hopelessly in the dark about how to treat Sars and claims concerned health professionals cannot get the right sort of information to stop the disease from spreading.

The Southend doctor, who did not wish to be named, contacted the PCT after one of his patients called with concerns that he had the disease. The GP claims the PCT did not initially have any idea what the doctor should do but then called back to tell him to take a blood sample from the patient - but could not explain the reason for that course of action.

The doctor said: "The Government is saying that Sars is completely under control and that all NHS doctors know exactly what to do, which was news to our practice.

"The PCT did not know what the blood sample was for.

"They did not know what you should do with the actual patient.

"It is quite clear that in Southend no one has a clue what to do about Sars."

However, the PCT says it is closely following Department of Health guidelines about Sars.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "We have issued two or three guidance notes to GPs and passed on another one today from the Department of Health.

"There have been no suspected cases that we are aware of, but we are planning for the worst and hoping for the best."

Published Thursday, May 1, 2003

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