Reporting an outbreak
Early reporting of suspected outbreaks in a care home, nursery or school is essential for effective management.
For the management of diarrhoea and vomiting in education and care settings please refer to the outbreak guidance (PDF 783KB) issued by UK Health Security Agency.
There are useful printable resources included in this document:
Action check list for care home manager
Resident and staff outbreak log sheet
Visitor outbreak notice poster
Hand wash notice poster
Cleaning equipment colour coding
For the management of influenza, please refer to the UKHSA flu resource pack for care homes (PDF 2MB).
Headteachers and managers should contact UKHSA as soon as they suspect an outbreak to discuss the situation and agree if any actions are needed. It is useful to have the information listed below available before this discussion as it will help to inform the size and nature of the outbreak:
total numbers affected (staff and children)
symptoms
date(s) when symptoms started
number of classes affected
Post Infection Reviews (PIR)
The Post Infection Review (PIR) form can assist social care settings and infection prevention leads to understand the causes of an outbreak from GERMS (gastrointestinal, environmental, respiratory, multi-drug resistance organisms, skin).
The aim of the PIR process is to help identify any critical points and contributory factors leading to certain infections or outbreaks.
Completing the PIR form enables lessons to be learnt and highlight areas for improvement of infection prevention and control measures in the setting.
Conducting PIR's helps to reduce the impact of a current outbreak (breaking the chain of infection) and prevent future outbreaks.