Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN01236
To:
- All NHS trusts and Foundation
- Trusts chief executives
- ICB chief executives
- GP practices and PCNs
- Community health service providers
- NHS 111 providers
cc.
- NHS regional directors
- Regional heads of EPRR
- All NHS trusts and Foundation
Trusts chairs - Local authority:
- chief executives
- directors of adult social care
- Chairs of local resilience forums
Dear colleague,
Closure of COVID-19 outbreak reporting portal
The NHS COVID-19 response was formerly stood down in May 2023. Much of the data reporting associated with this has either been discontinued or incorporated into business-as-usual reporting. This letter confirms that outbreak reporting via this portal will also cease from the end of March.
The COVID-19 outbreak online reporting portal was developed in Autumn 2020 in response to the rapid increase in outbreaks within healthcare settings. It was developed to replace manual reporting, putting systems in place for winter planning and in preparation for the second wave of the pandemic. Through the remainder of 2020 and over subsequent years the data uploaded has proved invaluable in both understanding the impact of Covid and informing the NHS response.
Over the past year, there has been a steady decline in the reporting of COVID-19 outbreaks, together with inconsistent use of the portal to report outbreaks. The decision has therefore been taken to close the portal will close and from 1st April 2024 outbreaks should be reported as part of normal Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) reporting mechanisms for communicable diseases in hospital settings.
Thank you for your continued leadership and hard work over this period of unprecedented challenge, and for the commitment that you and your teams continue to show in recovering and improving patient access and the quality of our services.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Prentice, National Director for NHS Resilience, NHS England