E. coli report reveals 'lessons learned'

Oct 15 2010 By Jessica Thompson

A COUNCIL report into an E. coli outbreak at a Feltham school has identified a series of 'lessons to be learned'.

A total of 28 recommendations have been made as a result of the Hounslow Council overview and scrutiny report into the incident at Feltham Hill Nursery and Infant School in February this year.

The school was closed for three weeks when the potentially fatal bug was contracted by pupils, 18 people were affected in total.

Luckily there were no fatalities as a result of the outbreak.

In an introduction to the report, Cllr Steve Curran, states: "The stakeholders involved agree that there were lessons to be learned which can improve future responses to emergency situations.

"They have been pro-active in identifying lessons during the incident review meeting that took place after the school had re-opened."

Of the 28 points, there are 14 "lessons learned recommendations" including:

- The situation should have been declared 'an emergency' sooner than it was.

- There were delays in stopping the spread of the outbreak because the school had no emergency plan.

- Information sharing between the school and the health authorities was poor.

- Confusion over information given to parents resulted in many being worried that the outbreak was not being controlled.

Two children were treated in hospital for the bug, one of which was for a prolonged period of time. The report reveals that the source of the outbreak was never discovered.

Cllr Curran spoke to The Chronicle ahead of the report being presented to the executive at a meeting next week (Tuesday October 19).

He said: "It became clear that this was a very important issue. There are always lessons to be learned. I think the inter-agency work was good, we have been looking at what could have been done better."

To see the report in full, click here.