Delay in reporting meningococcal disease to public health departments.

Prompt reporting of meningococcal disease improves the management of contacts. We looked at cases from five major local hospitals over a two-year period to ascertain the time taken to report and reasons for delays. Over 80% of cases were reported in the first 24 hours. Transfer to another unit was a frequent reason for a report being delayed. Nearly half the delayed cases were reported by the microbiology laboratory rather than the clinical team. We stress the need to emphasise timely reporting in the training of frontline medical staff, and the need to designate an individual in accident and emergency as responsible for reporting cases.