AN NHS Trust chief has admitted officials could have raised the alarm over meningitis - which quickly emerged to be a “super-spreader” outbreak - sooner than they did.
East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust missed an earlier opportunity to alert the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) of the outbreak in Kent, which claimed two lives.
According to the BBC, the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate first reported a case to the UKHSA on the afternoon of Friday, March 13.
The broadcaster reports the patient had arrived in hospital two days earlier on Wednesday evening, but the trust waited until there was a formal diagnosis via a confirmed test before raising the alarm.
Dr Des Holden, acting chief executive of East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust, told the BBC officials could have acted sooner.
“We recognise there was an opportunity prior to diagnosis to notify UKHSA,” he said.
"We cannot go into the detail of individual patients' care, but the trust has been in close contact with UKHSA since Friday, 13 March to discuss the management of patients presenting with suspected meningitis."
The UKHSA told the broadcaster an earlier report could have meant the agency began its investigation sooner, as well as provide antibiotics to close contacts of the patient to prevent anyone developing invasive meningitis.
Two students have died in the outbreak - 18-year-old Juliette Kenny, who was described by her family as “fit, healthy and strong” before her death, and a University of Kent student.
Most patients (87%) attended Club Chemistry in Canterbury at least once between March 5 and 7 before becoming unwell.
Most of those were students, and the three cases who did not go to the nightclub are all University of Kent students living in halls with links to those who did attend.
The earliest known case became unwell on March 9, and the latest on March 16.
According to the UKHSA, the peak of the outbreak - with the largest number of cases reported - was on March 13.
As of 12.30pm on Monday, 20 cases of meningitis had been confirmed, with a further three under investigation, bringing the total to 23.
This was down from 29 on Sunday, when 20 cases were confirmed and a further nine were under investigation.
Officials started vaccinating University of Kent students on Wednesday March 18.
NHS Kent and Medway said that by 11am on March 24, 13,386 doses of antibiotics were given out - along with 10,627 vaccines.
All patients in the Kent outbreak have required hospital admission. Nine were admitted to the intensive care unit, where four remain.
The UKHSA has been contacted for comment.
