Hospital trust ‘missed earlier opportunity’ to raise alarm on Kent meningitis case

A hospital trust did not immediately alert health officials about a case of meningitis in Kent.

A patient first presented to East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust on the evening of Wednesday 11 March, a spokesperson said.

But the trust waited until Friday 13 March, once a diagnosis had been confirmed, to notify the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which manages an outbreak of such an illness.

Dr Des Holden, acting chief executive of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our first patient presented on the evening of Wednesday 11 March.

“We recognise there was an opportunity prior to diagnosis being confirmed on Friday 13 March to notify UKHSA".

Health secretary Wes Streeting said that there was a 24-hour window in which hospitals were meant to raise a suspected case with the agency, and that staff had instead done so in 26 hours.

He told LBC: “The patient came in on the Wednesday unwell. By mid-morning on Thursday, the staff suspected meningitis. Now at that stage, they had 24 hours within which they should have notified the UKHSA. They did so in 26 hours.

“While I can reassure people that it appears in this case that that delay did not have a material impact – we have not found evidence of onward transmission to other people through that delay that we would otherwise have traced faster – nonetheless, we have that 24-hour standard for a reason, and I am taking this seriously.”

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Source: The Independent, 25 March 2026