Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Use in Long-Term Care Facilities (HALT) 2017 Survey

The Northern Ireland Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Use in Long-Term Care Facilities (HALT) 2017 Survey, also known as the ‘HALT3’ survey, was conducted as part of the 2016 / 2017 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) European HALT survey and coordinated in Northern Ireland by PHA.

In September/October 2017, 70 Northern Ireland long-term care facilities (55 private nursing and 15 trust-controlled residential homes) participated in this point prevalence to estimate the prevalence of HCAIs, antimicrobial use, and measure structure and process indicators of infection prevention and control (IPC) in LTCFs.

The report and results have highlighted priority areas for future interventions to prevent and control HCAI, antimicrobial stewardship and future local and national prevalence surveys in long-term care facilities.

Key results from the 2017 survey:

Nursing Homes:

• The prevalence of HCAI was 3.3% (range 0-15.4%).
• 15 (27.3%) Nursing homes recorded 0 infections.
• 43.5% of reported HCAIs were urinary tract infections.
• UTI prevalence was 1.5%.
• 35% of reported HCAIs were respiratory tract infections.
• RTI prevalence was 1.2%.
• The prevalence of antimicrobial use was 10.5%.
• The main target sites for prescriptions were UTI (68.5%), RTI (21.0%) and SSTI (9.3%).
• 50.4% of all prescriptions were for prophylaxis.

• Residential Homes:

• The prevalence of HCAI was 6.8% (range 0-19%).
• 5 (33.3%) Residential homes recorded 0 infections.
• 55% of HCAIs reported were urinary tract infections.
• UTI prevalence was 3.8%.
• 25% of HCAIs reported were skin and soft tissue infections.
• SSTI prevalence was 1.7%.
• The prevalence of antimicrobial use was 9.2%.
• The main target sites for prescriptions were UTI (70.3%), SSTI (18.5%) and RTI (11.1%).
• 44.4% of all prescriptions were for prophylaxis.