Meeting Date: February 6, 2019
Report No.: BH.01.FEB0619.C05
Prepared By: Janice Walters, Manager, Control of Infectious Diseases; Jessica Morris, Manager, Rabies Program
Approved By: Christopher Beveridge, Director, Health Protection
Submitted By and Signature: Dr. Nicola J. Mercer, MD, MBA, MPH, FRCPC Medical Officer of Health & CEO
Key Points
- Health Protection programs conduct annual inspections and disease follow-up.
- All compliance and complaint inspection reports are publically available on the Check Before You Choose website.
Strategic Directions & Goals
Service Centred Approach - We are committed to providing excellent service to anyone interacting with public health.
- We will increase community awareness of public health programs and services.
- We will improve access to public health programs and services while enhancing the client experience.
- We will enhance our understanding of the local needs and priorities of the communities we serve and develop programs and services in response to those needs.
Building Healthy Communities - We will work with communities to support the health and well-being of everyone.
- We will engage communities with more opportunities for collaboration.
- We will work to improve health services for priority populations.
- We will have an understanding of health equity and apply it in our work.
Operational Plan Objectives
- Complete 100% annual compliance inspections.
- Publicly disclose results of inspections (compliance and complaint).
- Investigate complaints related to an inspected facility.
- Mitigate health hazards and disease transmission based on risk.
Summary of OPHS Program Requirements
OPHS Program: Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control
Goals:
- To prevent or reduce the burden of tuberculosis (TB).
- To prevent the occurrence of rabies in humans.
- To prevent or reduce the burden of infectious diseases of public health importance.
Strategy:
- Health Protection
- Disease Prevention
- Assessment and Surveillance
Requirements:
- Conduct population health assessment and surveillance of infectious diseases and their determinants.
- Conduct surveillance and epidemiological analysis, including the monitoring of trends over time, emerging trends, and priority.
- Provide public education to increase awareness related to infection prevention and control measures.
- Work with community partners and service providers to determine and address the need for knowledge translation resources and supports for infection prevention and control.
- Increase awareness of infection prevention and control practices and local infectious diseases of public health significance epidemiology.
- Communicate with health care providers and other partners about urgent and emerging infectious diseases issues.
- Manage cases and contacts of outbreaks to minimize public health risk.
- Facilitate identification of active cases of TB and referrals through medical surveillance.
- Receive and respond to reported cases of potential rabies exposures.
- Address rabies threats as per the local Rabies Contingency Plan with relevant agencies.
- Respond to all reported animal cases of avian chlamydiosis (infection of birds with the causative agent of psittacosis in humans), avian influenza, novel influenza, and Echinococcus multilocularis infection.
- Develop a local vector-borne management strategy.
- Participate on infection control committees, advisory bodies, or networks.
- Respond to reports of infection control and/or refer to appropriate regulatory bodies.
- Inspect and evaluate infection control practices in personal service settings.
- Inspect settings associated with risk of infectious diseases of public health significance.
- Ensure 24/7 availability to receive reports of and respond to infectious diseases of public health significance and potential rabies exposures.
Accountability Indicators:
|
2018 Infectious Diseases Indicators |
2018 Q4 |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
# and type of IPAC lapse by sector (PSS, dental office, or independent health facility) |
1 |
1 Walk-in Clinic |
|
Annual # and rate per 100,000 of new active TB infections |
2 cases |
2 new active cases diagnosed in Q4 |
|
# of cases of acquired drug-resistance of active TB cases |
0 |
None reported |
|
# of cases of identified LTBI that are initiating prophylaxis and/or the number completing treatment |
8 initiated |
8 new LTBI cases started prophylaxis in the last quarter 18 cases who initiated LTBI prophylactic treatment in 2018 completed treatment in Q4 - either on a 4 or 9 month regime) |
|
# of potential rabies exposures investigated annually |
768 |
|
|
# of animals investigated with current rabies vaccination |
284 |
37% animals investigated current rabies vaccination |
|
# of persons given rabies post-exposure prophylaxis |
73 |
10% investigations led to PEP administration |
Performance variance or discrepancy identified:
- No
Highlights
One (1) infection control lapse was identified during an infection control complaint investigation in the fourth quarter. WDGPH continues to provide education, training and resources to regulated health professionals on infection control best practices and reprocessing requirements. The number of new Tuberculosis cases reported, to date, for 2018 is within the expected range.
Rabies continues to be a disease of public health significance and success has been achieved by maintaining a low percentage of animal exposure victims who required post-exposure rabies prophylaxis.
