We have published the latest evidence on COVID-19 and how it has impacted public health systems in Europe and nursing homes in Ireland.
Last week, we published a review of how other countries have designed their public health systems — and the lessons these countries learned following the COVID-19 pandemic — to support the Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group in Ireland to strengthen our public health system and prepare for future pandemics.
Michelle O’Neill, our Deputy Director of Health Technology Assessment, said: “Public health is often reduced to just health protection, but we found when we examined other public health systems that the other pillars of public health (that is, health promotion and wellbeing, health intelligence and health service improvement) are vital in preventing health inequalities. As systems go back to ‘business as usual’, these other pillars must also be strengthened.
“Reviewing evidence from 12 other countries, we found that one national body or agency often managed several public health functions. However, some specific functions, such as community engagement and health promotion, were managed at a regional and local level. In all cases, transparent governance and communication about who is responsible for each public health function were important for ensuring a sustainable and comprehensive public health system.
“We noted that having a clear link between the scientific evidence and the decision-making process was a vital element in all countries. For example, establishing processes for evidence synthesis and a robust IT infrastructure during periods of relative stability can allow countries to have a faster response during a pandemic or emergency.”
Last month, working collaboratively with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, we updated our analysis of factors associated with outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 in nursing homes in Ireland. This analysis was undertaken following a request from the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel, and the update looked at outbreaks during the third wave of COVID-19.
We found that many of the factors associated with outbreaks in the third wave remained the same as those for the first and second waves. The likelihood of outbreaks in nursing homes was still associated with higher community incidence of COVID-19, the number of beds in a nursing home, and being in close proximity to other nursing homes.
While there were more outbreaks in the third wave than during the first two waves combined, fewer nursing homes had more than one outbreak. We also found that the impact of vaccination was pronounced and positive, as once vaccination was rolled out, homes were less likely to have an outbreak, and if an outbreak occurred, it was smaller.
Read our latest evidence synthesis on COVID-19 at https://bit.ly/2R4eL6f