The UK Dept of Health has released The Flu Pandemic Game, a role playing game/simulation aimed at helping businesses imagine the effect that swine flu could have on their business. The game was devised by the Camden Primary Care Trust in North London. To avoid making the game “unwieldy”, there is no possibility of death due to the disease.

This is not the first time the DoH has released a game or used role play in its efforts to reach the public. Earlier this month they released Exercise Cold Play II, an update to a previous activity for health care professionals to work through treating Flu response.

In 2004, they released Trust Me, I’m a Patient, a role play game for 20 to 100 participants about a town whose three GPs are replaced with a heath center (sound familiar?) Additional games include Diagnosis It, helping kids diagnose and treat medical conditions, and a role play based on a visit to surgery. The dept found these earlier releases to be successful.

According to source:

Katherine Murphy, [Director] of the Patients’ Association, said: ‘This game is a ridiculous use of time and money. The Government should be focusing on letting patients know how to get the drugs they need and whether they should be taking them.

‘The money and time spent on this game could surely have been better spent on organising the swine flu helpline better and actually helping patients.’

(source)

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In a bizarrely ironic turn of events, Mattel, the company whose six product recalls inspired the CPSC to institute third-party lead testing on all products aimed at children, has been exempted from these very tests.

Mattel spent $1 million dollars in lobbying to convince the CPSC that it’s own internal tests were both good enough and untainted by corporate influence. Naturally, this results in Mattel saving a bundle of money, while smaller companies without such internal resources get hit with the high costs of third-party testing.

The request and exemption was done quietly, with no advertisement and no press release, thus surprising many. The CPSC is now fielding similar requests for exemptions from other companies.

(source)

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