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1. As promised, a thread on what we are doing in public health departments during this COVID-19 pandemic.
From the beginning we were responsible for our own regional contact tracing. I was on call for the first weekend when suspect cases were notified.
From the beginning we were responsible for our own regional contact tracing. I was on call for the first weekend when suspect cases were notified.
2. I spoke to the patients, did histories, arranged with hospital and NAS for these patients to be transferred and admitted.
Regional departments and SPHMS like me did contact tracing constantly into late hours of each day, working hard to break the chain of transmission.
Regional departments and SPHMS like me did contact tracing constantly into late hours of each day, working hard to break the chain of transmission.
3. Early on we needed more staff, who were redeployed from other HSE services.
I walked into work one morning and we had about 20 new staff, none of whom had worked in public health. We trained them to take calls from the public.
Our phones never stopped ringing.
I walked into work one morning and we had about 20 new staff, none of whom had worked in public health. We trained them to take calls from the public.
Our phones never stopped ringing.
4. All this time we were participating in daily teleconferences with our national Public Health leads, sharing information, experiences, any problems or unintended issues with guidance. We were also on national groups to develop guidance too.
5. The numbers increased and it became apparent that regional departments were at capacity contact tracing wise and would soon be overwhelmed. Also complex outbreaks were on the horizon and we needed to focus on these.
6. A national contact tracing system was developed with leadership from colleagues and was rolled out region by region, staffed by people like the cadets. We continued to to make sure all of our cases went onto the new system, as local labs do not automatically feed into this.
7. We were asked to focus on complex situations i.e. HCWs, residents of congregate settings, outbreaks. We continue to contact trace these.
Occupational health do the workplace contacts of HSE staff, we do the workplace contacts of all other HCWs. This is a massive body of work.
Occupational health do the workplace contacts of HSE staff, we do the workplace contacts of all other HCWs. This is a massive body of work.
8. Meanwhile we now also leading on regional responses e.g. I am part of a regional nursing home Outbreak Control Team. My colleague @annedeewinter works with regional Social Inclusion to focus on controlling outbreaks in vulnerable groups. My DPH @MaiMannix leads an national OCT
9. Our surveillance staff manually input data about every single case (whether contact traced nationally or locally) into our national surveillance system CIDR. They also link this data in the system if they are outbreaks or clusters. This is the data NPHET use.
10. Our researchers @EKeane_1 and @ThisisKEvans
support the surveillance team currently all hands on deck!) but also work to create predictions of the number of cases in the coming week. This is for the local hospital group and CHO and helps them plan staffing and capacity wise.
support the surveillance team currently all hands on deck!) but also work to create predictions of the number of cases in the coming week. This is for the local hospital group and CHO and helps them plan staffing and capacity wise.
11. Our records about our outbreaks and cases are unfortunately held in word documents, excel etc.
Just before COVID-19 hit we had approval from DPER to purchase a national outbreak control system from @PublicHealthW . This will hopefully still happen.
Just before COVID-19 hit we had approval from DPER to purchase a national outbreak control system from @PublicHealthW . This will hopefully still happen.
12. In the meantime in the past 5 weeks I have developed a small simple system with local IT to manage. This will help us maintain an overview and control of what is going on regionally.
13. During all this we have been allocated as leads for processes such as the mass testing of nursing homes. Overnight we were responsible for giving the results of 1000s of tests to these people and staff. This proved challenging but we have completed the first round of testing.
14. We are working extremely hard behind the scenes to keep people safe.
I think we are doing a phenomenal job, considering we have a fraction of the public health staff that other countries have. Our redeployed @HSELive staff have been outstanding!
I think we are doing a phenomenal job, considering we have a fraction of the public health staff that other countries have. Our redeployed @HSELive staff have been outstanding!
15. We are now looking to the medium term.
Our redeployed staff will return to their normal jobs in the HSE.
Other infectious disease will also rise.
We are hoping that the critical staffing and IT infrastructure will be put in place to enable us to keep providing.
Our redeployed staff will return to their normal jobs in the HSE.
Other infectious disease will also rise.
We are hoping that the critical staffing and IT infrastructure will be put in place to enable us to keep providing.
