A controversial anti-flu drug is to be made more easily available to vulnerable patients if an epidemic breaks out.

Brighton and Hove Primary Care Group is to train chemists based in the city so they can supply Relenza over the counter to vulnerable people showing signs of flu.

The PCG is one of only a handful of groups in the country which have adopted the scheme.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence ruled last year the drug should be given on the NHS to the over-65s and people with chronic respiratory diseases, serious heart problems, a lowered resistance to infection or diabetes.

The move was a U-turn on an original decision by health chiefs not to use the drug because of doubts about its effectiveness.

Although not a cure, new research has found the drug reduces the duration of flu by two days, as well as easing aches and pains.

The chemists will be able to give the drug to a limited number of patients without them having to see their doctor first.

However the group has stressed this will only happen when consultations for flu-like illnesses rise above 50 per 100,000 people a week.

At the moment the figure for Brighton and Hove is less than 15 people per 100,000.

So far 30 pharmacists in the city have been trained although chemists in the Ouse Valley and High Weald areas are also planning to join the scheme.

Jane Moffatt, senior pharmaceutical adviser at Brighton and Hove PCG, said: "Pharmacists are ideally placed to provide the service, they have the necessary skills and are very accessible to the local population."

Brighton doctor Mark Aylesbury said: "This is a useful scheme and if we do have another flu epidemic in the future it should help to ease the pressure on GPs."