Microbiological data extracted from the laboratory information management system encompassing the period from 1st January 2014 to 31st December 2021. Parameters include the following: specimen number, specimen date, specimen type, isolate number, and antibiotic susceptibility test results. Antibiotic resistance and susceptibility were further qualitatively described as resistant (R), intermediate and from 2021 onwards ‘Susceptible, increased exposure’ (I), and susceptible (S) based on minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test results.

From the electronic health records database, extracted demographic data includes patient pseudo-ID, sex, age and movement data (ward admission and discharge date) for all patients with a microbiological culture taken.

For purposes of this study persons who registered an objection to use of their medical data were excluded from this study.

Three methods for automated surveillance for outbreak detection were applied to this data.