Today, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed a trial program to track diseases in English care facilities. With a broader mandate to investigate different illnesses, the current pilot expands on the viability of the Vivaldi trial conducted during the pandemic.
One of several national surveillance studies that UKHSA has commissioned to gather data on the burden of infections in healthcare and community settings is the Vivaldi social care project, which it collaborated with University College London (UCL) and other partners including The Outstanding Society, Care England, and NHS England.
This new pilot will work with over 500 care homes in England to monitor infections such as COVID-19, flu, norovirus, and urinary tract infections, and analyse the resultant anonymised data in order to help reduce infections in care homes for older adults.
The Vivaldi study, a national surveillance study, was commissioned by UKHSA during the pandemic to investigate COVID-19 infections in care homes. Researchers looked at the impact of COVID-19 in care homes, what could be done to prevent the spread of infection, and the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination.
