Abstract
BackgroundIn response to the COVID-19 epidemic, caused by a novel coronavirus, it was of great importance to rapidly collect as much accurate information as possible in order to characterize the public health threat and support the health authorities in its management. Hospital-based surveillance is paramount to monitor the severity of a disease in the population.MethodsTwo separate surveillance systems, a Surge Capacity survey and a Clinical survey, were set up to collect complementary data on COVID-19 from Belgium’s hospitals. The Surge Capacity survey collects aggregated data to monitor the hospital capacity through occupancy rates of beds and medical devices, and to follow a set of key epidemiological indicators over time. Participation is mandatory and the daily data collection includes prevalence and incidence figures on the number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital. The Clinical survey is strongly recommended by health authorities, focusses on specific patient characteristics and relies on individual patient data provided by the hospitals at admission and discharge.ConclusionsThis national double-level hospital surveillance was implemented very rapidly after the first COVID-19 patients were hospitalized and revealed to be crucial to monitor hospital capacity over time and to better understand the disease in terms of risk groups and outcomes. The two approaches are complementary and serve different needs.
Highlights
In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, caused by a novel coronavirus, it was of great importance to rapidly collect as much accurate information as possible in order to characterize the public health threat and support the health authorities in its management
In the event of a public health threat measures to reduce the risk to the Belgian population are decided by the Risk Management Group (RMG) [6], composed of representatives of the Belgium’s health authorities and coordinated by the National Focal Point for the International Health Regulations of the federal public health service
In order to prepare for a potential surge in COVID-19 patients needing acute and intensive care in hospitals, a series of measures related to COVID-19 management in hospitals was decided as from the 2nd of March 2020 and resulted in the creation of the Hospital & Transport Surge Capacity Plan (HTSC plan) and of the Hospital & Transport Surge Capacity Committee (HTSC committee)
Summary
In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, caused by a novel coronavirus, it was of great importance to rapidly collect as much accurate information as possible in order to characterize the public health threat and support the health authorities in its management. In order to prepare for a potential surge in COVID-19 patients needing acute and intensive care in hospitals, a series of measures related to COVID-19 management in hospitals was decided as from the 2nd of March 2020 and resulted in the creation of the Hospital & Transport Surge Capacity Plan (HTSC plan) and of the Hospital & Transport Surge Capacity Committee (HTSC committee). To monitor the hospital capacity with regards to COVID-19 activities, a surveillance tool, the Surge Capacity (SC) survey, was commissioned to and developed by the Belgian Scientific Institute of Health, Sciensano, given the statutory framework [7]. The survey was designed to capture in real-time the occupancy rate of beds and medical devices within Belgian general hospitals by COVID-19 patients
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