Te Whatu Ora is aware of a number of cases of Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) in hospital patients across the Te Manawa Taki region.
Read the following information from Te Whatu Ora:
Effective hand hygiene and thorough surface cleaning are the core elements of managing a VRE outbreak.
A National Alert has been added to the national system stating VRE positive or VRE close contact. A patient’s VRE status should be included in the patients discharge summary.
The current outbreak of VRE at Waikato Hospital was traced to 1 October 2022, so has been undetected until late May 2023.
Te Whatu Ora Waikato has implemented controls to support the identification and elimination of Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) from hospital areas.
This includes discharge testing for all patients being discharged/transferred to another acute hospital, ARC facility, or Convalescent Care facility.
Waikato Hospital is also asking all visitors to the hospital to follow effective hand hygiene and thorough surface cleaning to minimise the spread.
Te Whatu Ora Lakes is managing a local response to an outbreak of VRE (Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus) at Waikato Hospital.
Any patient transferred from Waikato to Rotorua or Taupō Hospitals is being isolated until test results being done on discharge from Waikato are received.
In addition, any person accessing Lakes hospital or community services (from their home in Lakes) who has been in Waikato Hospital as in-patient or for a day stay procedure since 1 October 2022 is also being tested.
Primary care and aged residential facilities in Lakes are advised that patients who have been to Waikato Hospital as an inpatient since 1 October 2022 should be treated as potentially having been exposed to VRE.
A Lakes team is meeting regularly and a regional IMT is in place to support coordination and information sharing between Te Manawa Taki hospitals and other healthcare providers.
VRE is a type of bacteria that is resistant to many antibiotics, including vancomycin.
It is generally spread from the hands of someone who has VRE or picked up from a surface where an infected person has been in contact.
VRE organisms normally reside in the bowel, they usually don't cause problems but sometimes they cause infection.
This can occur anywhere in the body. Some common sites include the intestines, the urinary tract, and wounds.
For some people, especially those who are weak or ill, these infections can become serious. If you are healthy, your chances of getting VRE are very low.
VRE information for patients in hospital and their family/whānau.
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