Some 15 new acute hospital CPE “outbreak events” were created, compared to five in 2016, and the report added that “there have been additional CPE outbreaks notified in 2017 that await event creation by the Departments of Public Health”.
According to data returned by 89 per cent of hospitals and applying to November 2017, 19 inpatients with known CPE across nine hospitals were not accommodated in an en suite single room for part of their admission.
All 46 acute HSE hospitals are asked to report data on the total number of CPE screens performed (rectal swab or faeces) and on the number of patients with newly-detected CPE from either screening or diagnostic specimens to the HSE’s Business Information Unit (BIU), with monthly data available from October 2017.
According to the report, in November 2017, 42 HSE acute hospitals (91 per cent) provided data, with 11,196 screens performed (October = 43 hospitals; 93.5 per cent; 9,821 screens).
In November, there were 46 patients reported from whom CPE were newly-detected, either from a screen or other body site, compared with 36 in October.
Last October, a public health emergency was declared by Minister for Health Simon Harris, in light of a “rapid and worrying increase” in CPE incidence. He announced the creation of a National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to provide guidance, support and direction on the surveillance and management of CPE at national level.
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