Cluster of Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci cases at North District Hospital

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for North District Hospital made the following announcement today (March 6):
      
     An 89-year-old patient in a male medical ward was confirmed to be Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) carrier on February 26. In accordance with the prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has screened patients who had contact with the index patient. Four more patients (aged 58 to 91) were confirmed to be VRE carriers without any symptoms of infection. Two patients have been discharged earlier while the remaining three patients are still hospitalised under isolation with stable condition.
      
     Admission and visiting to the affected wards have been suspended. The following enhanced infection control measures have already been adopted:
      
     1. Apply stringent contact precautions and enhance hand hygiene;
     2. Enhance attention to contamination-prone procedures; and
     3. Enhance cleansing and disinfection of the wards concerned.
      
     The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up. The hospital will continue to closely monitor the situation of the wards.



Press release: Worksop waste company fined £15,000 for operating illegally

A Nottinghamshire company has been fined £15,000 for operating an illegal waste site on land adjacent to Sandy Lane in Worksop. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £7,200 and a victim surcharge of £120.

The case against Yorkshire Waste Services Ltd. of Gateford Road, Worksop, was proven in the absence of a company representative at the trial on Friday 2 March 2018 at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court.

Officers from the Environment Agency told the court that the site had been previously used by a company called Trent Valley Recycling Ltd. The site itself is one with a high fire risk due to the waste operations conducted by the previous owners.

This company did have an environmental permit for the site, however this was disclaimed once the company went into liquidation.

Officers discovered that Yorkshire Waste were storing a significant quantity of baled textile waste on the site between April and June last year.

A search of the public register confirmed that a number of companies had registered exemptions for waste activity on the site.

In light of that, and the fact that there was a high fire risk associated with the site, the exemptions were de-registered.

An enforcement notice was served on Yorkshire Waste giving them 21 days to clear the site of illegal waste. However, the waste remained on the site and no attempt was made to clear it.

In passing sentence, the Magistrates said that the company had flagrantly disregarded the law in committing the offences. They noted that the offences took place close to a high risk fire site.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said:

Yorkshire Waste Services has repeatedly put the environment at risk by deliberately ignoring the law for financial gain.

Illegal waste activity such as this has a detrimental impact on the community and environment, as well as undermining legitimate businesses.

The Environment Agency will continue to work hard to ensure enforcement action is taken against those who flout the law.

Anyone who suspects waste is being disposed of on an illegal site should report the matter to the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The charges

  • On 15 June 2017 Yorkshire Waste Services Ltd failed, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a notice dated 22 June 2017 pursuant to section 59(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, in that it failed to remove controlled waste from land at Sandy Lane, Worksop. Contrary to section 59(5) Environmental Protection Act 1990.

  • Between 9 April 2017 and 15 June 2017 at a site adjacent to Sandy Lane, Worksop, Yorkshire Waste Services Ltd did operate a regulated facility, namely a waste operation for the deposit, treatment and storage of waste, except under and to the extent authorised by an environmental permit Contrary to Regulations 12 and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.



News story: 1 April 2018: Update to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fees

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fee structure changes on 1 April 2018 and will be as follows:

Transmittal fee:

  • £75

Search fee:

  • £1,552

International fee:

  • £1,029 for the first 30 sheets
  • £12 for each sheet over 30

Restoration for restoration of priority

  • £150

Reductions for e-filing

  • £155: electronic filing (not being in character coded format)
  • £232: electronic filing (being in character coded format)

Fees for preparation of priority document

  • £20

PCT forms

Further information



eu-LISA successfully launches SIS II AFIS Phase One

After a little less than two years of intense efforts, the eu-LISA Internal Security Systems Sector successfully launched the first phase of the SIS II AFIS platform. The platform enables the identification of a person from his/her fingerprints alone.  The introduction of a biometric search capability in SIS II was achieved by eu-LISA in tight cooperation with ten Member States who showed both interest and willingness to use biometric queries once deployed at the Central System level. Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia will soon be followed by more Member States.

The aim of SIS II AFIS is to allow all the Member States to leverage on a centralized policing-oriented database. As such, it will strengthen the fight against crime within Europe which is a mission we should bear in mind each day. Using the platform to locate those who either lie about their identity or changed it to avoid detection is paramount to Europe’s security.

SIS II AFIS Phase One entered into operation on 5 March 2018 at 22:00 CET. The entire project was performed without any deviation from the timescale and in full compatibility with the requests from eu-LISA’s Governing Bodies.

“This is an important milestone in the evolution of SIS II. With its new biometric search capabilities the system becomes an even more important platform for law-enforcement cooperation and information exchange. At the same time, this is a great achievement for the Agency as a whole, demonstrating again our agility and ability to deliver towards the needs of eu-LISA’s stakeholders.” said Krum Garkov, Executive Director of eu-LISA.

Background

Articles 22 (c) of the SIS II Decision and the SIS II Regulation have foreseen an evolution towards the normal law enforcement practice of comparing a person’s fingerprints to the many sets of prints stored in SIS II (‘one-to-many’ search) to identify the person solely on the basis of his/her fingerprints.

However, this can only be achieved by using an Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

Links

Contacts

for media requests:

e-mail: press@eulisa.europa.eu

for general information:

e-mail: info@eulisa.europa.eu



eu-LISA successfully launches SIS II AFIS Phase One

After a little less than two years of intense efforts, the eu-LISA Internal Security Systems Sector successfully launched the first phase of the SIS II AFIS platform. The platform enables the identification of a person from his/her fingerprints alone.  The introduction of a biometric search capability in SIS II was achieved by eu-LISA in tight cooperation with ten Member States who showed both interest and willingness to use biometric queries once deployed at the Central System level. Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia will soon be followed by more Member States.

The aim of SIS II AFIS is to allow all the Member States to leverage on a centralized policing-oriented database. As such, it will strengthen the fight against crime within Europe which is a mission we should bear in mind each day. Using the platform to locate those who either lie about their identity or changed it to avoid detection is paramount to Europe’s security.

SIS II AFIS Phase One entered into operation on 5 March 2018 at 22:00 CET. The entire project was performed without any deviation from the timescale and in full compatibility with the requests from eu-LISA’s Governing Bodies.

“This is an important milestone in the evolution of SIS II. With its new biometric search capabilities the system becomes an even more important platform for law-enforcement cooperation and information exchange. At the same time, this is a great achievement for the Agency as a whole, demonstrating again our agility and ability to deliver towards the needs of eu-LISA’s stakeholders.” said Krum Garkov, Executive Director of eu-LISA.

Background

Articles 22 (c) of the SIS II Decision and the SIS II Regulation have foreseen an evolution towards the normal law enforcement practice of comparing a person’s fingerprints to the many sets of prints stored in SIS II (‘one-to-many’ search) to identify the person solely on the basis of his/her fingerprints.

However, this can only be achieved by using an Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

Links

Contacts

for media requests:

e-mail: press@eulisa.europa.eu

for general information:

e-mail: info@eulisa.europa.eu