A National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is a group within Ireland's Department of Health.[1]

It is in the power of the Minister for Health to convene such a group when a public health emergency arises.[2] Since the 2000s, multiple NPHETs have been established to deal with different emergencies.

History

Influenza A

The first NPHET was convened in October 2006, to aid with planning for a possible future human influenza pandemic (prompted by increasing international concern at the time over Influenza A virus subtype H5N1).[3] It initially met on a quarterly basis during this planning phase, and was chaired by the Department of Health's secretary general. [3]

In 2009, the then-Minister for Health, Mary Harney, activated public health emergency structures in response to the 2009 swine flu pandemic of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1. Harney described the structure of this NPHET in a statement to Seanad Éireann on 6 May 2009.[4] The team was chaired by the Secretary-General of the Department of Health, and was "fed into" by the Health Service Executive's crisis management team, the Department's own pandemic expert guidance group (chaired by Professor Bill Hall) and the EU co-ordination group.[4] Its role was to manage the interface between the Department and the HSE, and to act as the main decision making forum for the health system response.[4]

CPE

A public health emergency was declared in Ireland on 25 October 2017 with respect to carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae (CPE).[5] The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, convened a NPHET for CPE to provide advice, support, guidance and direction on surveillance and containment of the outbreak.[6] It held its first meeting on 2 November 2017.[7] The government website contains minutes from NPHET meetings in 2019. [8] By 2019, the CPE emergency was better controlled and plans were being made to bring the "NPHET process" to an end.[9]

COVID-19

A NPHET to deal with the emerging SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 was created on 27 January 2020.[10] It was disbanded in February 2022 after the majority of COVID-19 restrictions were removed.[11] A new advisory group was established on 8 April 2022.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) for COVID-19 was established on 27th January 2020 in the Department of Health". Gov.ie. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Ryan, Philip (5 April 2020). "Inside the all-powerful coronavirus taskforce - Ireland's decision-makers in a crisis: Our new rulers during this health crisis are a crack team of doctors, scientists and senior civil servants". Sunday Independent. p. 12.
  3. 1 2 "Control of Infectious Diseases - Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 October 2007". Houses of the Oireachtas. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "Seanad Éireann debate - Wednesday, 6 May 2009". Houses of the Oireachtas. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  5. ↑ "18 new superbug cases confirmed as public health emergency enters fifth month". Irish Examiner. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "Minister for Health convenes the National Public Health Emergency Team as a public health response to the CPE superbug". merrionstreet.ie. Merrion Street. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "Hospital Acquired Infections - Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 November 2017". Houses of the Oireachtas. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "Minutes of National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) Meetings 2019". Department of Health. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  9. ↑ Reilly, Catherine (25 March 2019). "Department considers ending CPE public health emergency". The Medical Independent. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  10. ↑ Boland, Rosita (3 April 2020). "Covid-19 jargon buster: What are 'the curve', R0 and the NPHET?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  11. ↑ Lehane, Micheál (22 February 2022). "Govt agrees to end almost all Covid measures". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  12. ↑ "Minister reveals members of new Covid-19 advisory group". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
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