A report into the failure of HSE’s infectious disease reporting system during the Christmas Covid-19 surge

This is a copy of an internal report from the HSE on the failure of their Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting system.

Two days before Christmas as Covid-19 cases were surging, the performance of the system began to suffer “slow speeds and disconnection”.

The report said: “In the following days, there was an exponential increase in positive laboratory results.”

It also describes how the system was fifteen years old, no longer fit-for-purpose, and needed replacement.

However, it warned that even a new system would still face challenges.