MORE than 2,500 Kirklees residents have now been treated with anti-virals such as Tamiflu following the Swine Flu pandemic.

But Dr Judith Hooper, NHS Kirklees Director of Public Health, said only a small proportion of those being treated, fewer than one in 10 nationwide, actually had the virus.

Dr Hooper said this was because government policy dictated every member of a household had to be given the drugs.

In Kirklees 75 people have been admitted to hospital but only 14 of those were confirmed as having contracted the virus.

Dr Hooper said: “We expect the number of cases of Swine Flu to rise at the beginning of September when the schools go back.

“We’re having a bit of a lull now but it’s clear there will be increasing pressure on the NHS.”

Health chiefs are now starting to worry about the financial implications of the pandemic on their budgets amid planning for an immunisation programme in the autumn.

Lists of essential and non-essential services are now being drafted and prioritised as to “what gets turned off”.

Finance director Bryan Machin told the NHS Kirklees board meeting yesterday that it would be a significant challenge for the trust to hit their financial targets this year.

He also said any contract that was not signed should be questioned and some commitments may have to be “uncommitted”.

The meeting also heard that procedures for vaccinating the public were not yet clear.

Chief Executive, Mike Potts, said it was thought the Swine Flu jab had to be given in two goes but the standard winter flu jab would still need to be given at the same time in a different arm.

Mr Potts also confirmed NHS Kirklees would continue its planning and would be taking part in some sort of regional emergency outbreak exercise.

NHS Kirklees executives are also planning how to fill holes in their staffing levels when their own employees are forced to take time off with Swine Flu.

It is thought staff may be “lent” across different parts of the NHS to plug emergency gaps.

Latest Health Protection Agency figures show that, in the week ending July 19, an estimated 100,000 Britons were infected with Swine Flu – almost double the tally for the previous week.

There have been 30 confirmed cases and one death linked to Swine Flu in Kirklees and a total of 26 confirmed deaths in England.

Children under 15 accounted for a third of deaths, while around one in seven victims was previously in good health.

At the last count, 840 flu patients were being treated in hospital in England, with 63 in intensive care.

Children are most likely to be infected, with relatively few cases among the elderly, possibly because of immunity from previous pandemics.

There are 169 children under the age of five in English hospitals, 12 of them in intensive care.

Pregnant women with Swine Flu are four times more likely to be admitted to hospital than members of the general population.

New research from the US suggest that pregnancy places women at extra risk of serious complications from the virus.

Experts from America’s leading public health body, reporting on the research today, said it reinforced the need to treat infected pregnant women with antiviral drugs “as soon as possible”.