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The National Public Health Emergency Team on Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) held their tenth meeting today, 11 January 2018. The focus of the agenda and items discussed included the status of implementation of specific screening requirements across the Hospital Groups, an update from the Expert Group and the latest figures from the National CPE Reference Laboratory. The Implementation Team provided an update on the implementation of screening in critical care areas and haematology and transplant wards across the seven HSE Hospital Groups.  Six of the seven Hospital Groups have indicated that they have fully implemented screening in these key areas.  The South/South West Hospital Group indicated partial implementation with a commitment to full implementation as a priority.  The National Public Health Emergency Team will continue to monitor this closely and seek assurances from the HSE in relation to the implementation of CPE screening requirements.

The Chair of the Expert Group, Professor Hilary Humphreys attended the meeting and provided an update on the work of the group. The Expert Group are meeting on a monthly basis and have held two meetings to date.  When discussing the membership of the Expert Group Professor Humphreys said

“the international expert on the group is, Professor Marc Bonten, a Clinical Microbiologist from The Netherlands; a country that are internationally well renowned for their infection prevention and control systems”.

He indicated that the group are in the final stages of their review of the Requirements for screening of patients for CPE in the acute hospital sector and draft Guidance relating to CPE interventions for control of transmission of CPE in the acute hospital sector and plan to sign off on this process at their next meeting in February.   

The latest figures from the National CPE Reference Laboratory were presented to the group.  In the week from 1^st to 7^th January 2018 a total of six new patients with CPE were detected.   

The minutes of all previous meetings and related documents are published on the dedicated webpage, hosted on the Department of Health website.