Surveillance of antimicrobial consumption in Ireland
Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
2003 (data collection and reporting for primary care),
2004 (pilot),
2006 (full data collection).
In scope: To support overall multi-faceted strategy for the control and prevention of infectious diseases by providing standardised measure of antimicrobial consumption for acute hospitals and community setting.
42 public acute hospitals participating; coverage of primary care is over 95%.
Data collected on monthly basis where possible, else quarterly.
Data on antimicrobials dispensed by hospital pharmacies, and antimicrobials purchased by community pharmacies, are collected and converted into a standardised measure using the World Health Organization ATC/DDD classification.
Infection control teams. HSE KPI. ECDC.
Hospitals provide data (ward/quantities/cost) on the antimicrobial drugs (by product and pack) dispensed in each quarter. Primary care data are by quantity of antimicrobial drugs (by product and pack) sold by retail pharmacy aggregated to sub-county level in each month.
Not available.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Hospitals pharmacies send data directly to HPSC by quarters or by months where possible; a secure online tool (MicroB) is available to assist remote uploading and analysis. Primary care data are received on a monthly basis from IMS Health.
World Health Organization ATC/DDD classification scheme.
Hospital data: approximately 140,000 cumulative transactions (packages of each drug dispensed to each hospital ward within a quarter) per annum.
Primary care: approximately 100,000 cumulative sales transactions (packages of each drug sold by wholesalers to sub-county level geographical segments in each month) per annum.
Note these transactions are not the same as prescriptions.
Bi-annual and annual reports are available on the HPSC website.
Reports are available from the HPSC website via the MicroB Open reports microsites: http://www.hpsc.ie/A-Z/MicrobiologyAntimicrobialResistance/EuropeanSurveillanceofAntimicrobialConsumptionESAC/PublicMicroBReports/
Data requests can be submitted via hpsc@hse.ie and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The MicroB Open reports are interactive and detailed analysis for each hospital in can be easily accessed.