The government's handling of the swine flu pandemic will be criticised by a committee of peers today.
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has carried out a short review of the government's handling of the outbreak so far.
The report is expected to argue that the government should have launched the National Flu Pandemic Service several months earlier than it did.
But ministers have rejected claims that the service was delayed due to departmental infighting.
Health minister Gillian Merron said: "To say that the National Pandemic Flu service has been delayed, or that it should have been introduced sooner, is untrue. The service was set up at the request of GPs and the NHS and has been welcomed by them.
"Launching the service could only be done at the point where we moved from local outbreaks of swine flu to significant levels of infection across the country."
The new service allows thousands of sufferers to obtain antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu without needing to consult a GP. Merron said the service was only launched when pressure on the NHS reached unmanageable levels.
Ms Merron said: "When I gave evidence to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, peers were interested to hear about the preparedness of the National Pandemic Flu Service which would be, as it has been, activated when it was needed. They welcomed this reassurance, the details of which they had been unaware."
The service made more than 58,000 assessments last Thursday, the day it was launched.
