QSurveillance: Supporting Public Health Emergencies Julia Hippisley-Cox On behalf of QSurveillance team EMIS NUG, Warwick, 2009
Outline for QSurveillance Presentation Overview of - Its role in various emergencies in last 5 years - Critical data reporting for Swine Flu Pandemic - CMO’s most recent national briefing - Proposal for Vaccine Safety Study
September 2009 Acknowledgements EMIS practices David Stables Andy Whitwam Sean Riddell Fiona Baker Debbie Walton INS (for help with disaster recovery July 09) John Croasdale HPA Gillian Smith Alex Elliott Sally Harcourt Sue Smith Liam Donaldson (slides)
Largest real time surveillance system worldwide (23m+patients) Only system to be able to report to PCT Used to monitor seasonal outbreaks of disease e.g. influenza, norovirus Real time response to public health incidents Compliments NHS Direct, RCGP, National Pandemic Service Influenza virus particles Flooding, Oxfordshire, 2007 © HPA, Jane Bradley QSurveillance real-time surveillance
QSurveillance Core part of the Emergency Response. Reports to HPA and HPU Department of Health CMO’s Office Cobra WHO Academic Modellers Used to make national and local policy decisions Also used for reassurance
Examples: Ricin and London Bombings
Examples: Heatwaves
Examples: Buncefield
Examples: Avon Floods 2007
September 2009 Examples: Pandemic 2009
In the beginning…
Media ‘frenzy’?
September 2009 Examples: Pandemic 2009, the ‘first wave’
September 2009 Examples: Pandemic 2009, daily consultation rates
Age-specific ILI
QS regional data
April daily reporting Daily NHS Direct calls Cold/flu; fever; cough Daily QS consult ILI; URTI/LRTI; pneumonia Weekly QS GP consult ILl; URTI/LRTI; pneumonia
Examples: Pandemic 2009, England and Wales
Examples: Pandemic 2009, daily QSurveillance maps West Midlands
Pandemic 2009 QSurveillance maps London
Usefulness of data? Following the change to ‘national mitigation’, focus turned to syndromic surveillance At local level, syndromic data used to determine ‘hot spots’ and change policy Syndromic data used to model case estimates Daily data feed to HPA sitrep, DH, CMO
Swine Flu Vaccine Safety Study Real time evaluation of vaccine safety Examine at about 30 serious adverse events - Anaphylaxis - Steven Johnson syndrome - Guillain Barre syndrome Need very large sample to get results quickly enough Planning to recruit EMISWeb practices Volunteers for pilot welcome in due course
Qsurveillance portal We had to set up emergency web portal for the HPA and CMO, modellers in July 09 Extending this so practices can use it See their own data Draw comparisons between areas – PCTs, SHAs etc