Evaluation of the system of surveillance for enteric disease outbreaks, New South Wales, Australia, 2000 to 2005

AIM:To evaluate the NSW enteric disease outbreak surveillance system. EVALUATION METHODS: We performed unstructured interviews with NSW Health Communicable Diseases Branch staff and analysed summary outbreak reports for July 2000 to June 2005. PERFORMANCE OF THE SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM: The system provided a mechanism for meeting all of its objectives to some level. Limitations included difficulty in monitoring outbreaks, incomplete outbreak information, difficulty in linking and collating information, and the cumbersome and inflexible data management system. CONCLUSIONS: The NSW enteric disease outbreak surveillance system is serving a useful public health function, but could be improved through the use of more sophisticated electronic data management techniques.