Agenda item

The Board will receive an update on the above.

The Director of Public Health presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears at Appendix ‘B’ to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Board was reminded that allCouncils in England becameresponsible for developing anddelivering local outbreakmanagement plans in June 2020. In the intervening9 months,much haschanged, including thenational strategy in responseto Covid-19, with publication of the Roadmapon 22February. The refreshed local outbreakmanagement plan sets out the change in responsibilitiesof Councils in respondingto covid-19 and protectingthe local population. The plandetails the work of the Health ProtectionBoard andLocal Outbreak Engagement Board during the next phase of the responseto the Covid-19 pandemic. Italso shows how thehealth protection work will continue aswe learn to live with covid-19 as safelyas possible andreturn toa less restrictive way oflife under the

stages ofthe roadmap.

The Director of Public Health highlighted the connection with the Health and Wellbeing Boards through the Local Outbreak Engagement Board which was agreed in Summer 2020 as a Sub-Committee of the Health and Wellbeing Board.  He explained that the Engagement Board meetings regularly lead on the approach to communications and engagement and more had been learnt about the response to the pandemic which was a critical intervention.  The Director of Public Health reported that the draft plan was going through a month-long assurance process.  He explained that it has been through the regional assurance working group and would be considered nationally before being signed off at the beginning of April. The Board was advised that the Plan sets out how the health protection work would continue as we mount the response to Covid-19.  The Director of Public Health reported that when the team reflected on what was in the original plan it was clear that the content had moved on considerably based on the fact that there had been a shift from a national leading response on Covid-19 to a situation now where it was more about local delivery, regional coordination of some of the interventions that need to be delivered and then national support.  He explained that because there had been so many developments as the responsibility shifted towards local councils taking on local outbreak planning it was felt that it would be a better idea to write a new plan with more of a forward look.

The Board was advised that the plan supports the national contain framework which would be reviewed and updated this week but continued to make clear that Local Directors of Public Health remain responsible for managing local outbreaks of Covid-19 using a range of powers under the Public Health and Coronavirus legislation. He emphasised that this was a significant shift in the previous assurance role of Public Health Directors and explained that Public Health England was in the process of becoming a new organisation the UK Health Security Agency. The Board was informed that the team was also thinking about how the Integrated Care Systems develop over the next year.  He reported that in view of the forthcoming changes the plan focusses on the need to maintain a local health protection function which would be mainly staffed and resourced by the Public Health Dorset team.   

The Board was informed that the refresh was a single plan under the Dorset Health Protection Board which covers both Unitary Councils. The Director of Public Health reported on the incredible support and engagement through the Health Protection Board and the strong network of communication. The new plan was more dynamic and there was more narrative on the end-to-end outbreak management response and how this should work going forward which had been structured around 4 priorities and how to live safely with Covid.  The priorities were keeping transmission low, ensuring that surveillance was optimal, ongoing effective testing systems locally and integrated local contact tracing.  The Director of Public Health outlined the other changes in the plan including deploying rapid asymptomatic testing which started with staff and had now been expanded to include other parts of the community the latest of which included households bubbles with children returning to school. The Board was advised that under the theme of intelligence and surveillance the Public Health team had been using national data and building local tools to analyse networks and clusters and feedback into the system. The Director of Public Health reported that he was grateful to colleagues from across the system including both the two Councils for their contribution. He explained that a major section of the plan dealt with how to open up safely under the Prime Minister’s roadmap. 

The Director of Public Health reflected on the anniversary of the first recorded case of Covid-19 in Dorset, that the plan captured the scale of the Covid-19 response, that 1364 had sadly lost their lives within 28 days of a positive test result, that the team had responded to 365 incidents and outbreaks affecting education settings, 588 incidents and outbreaks in care homes, that outbreaks had continued to affect all three of the major hospitals and 40 other outbreaks had affected other healthcare settings.

The Director of Public Health reported that the plan would be a live document and developed to support the population to get back to normal and captured the ongoing risks and challenges together with appropriate mitigations and opportunities.  He explained the main risks including loosening measures too soon, public fatigue and the need to for organisations to return to normal. He reported on the need to provide assurance that the Health Protection Board would continue to work quietly in the background, referred to the gaps in vaccination coverage and the need to encourage take up.

The Board was informed that the feedback from the Regional Working Group effectively gave the draft refresh of the plan a green tick and included the main areas that they would expect to see which had been comprehensively covered.

The Chairman thanked the Director of Public Health for the leadership he had shown across the County and in particular for the experience in the BCP area.

The Board echoed the comments from the Chairman and thanked the Director of Public Health and his team for the work and support provided during the pandemic. A Member referred to the increase in workload for Public Health and the impact on resources. The Director of Public Health reported on the support provided by the Government to local Councils during restrictions per head of population which amounted to a significant non-recurring sum across both Councils. He outlined how the funding would be used through the development of a resources plan and the timing relating to dealing with local cases.

The Vice-Chairman supported the 4 priorities within the Plan and reported that the CCG would feedback if there were any other comments.  He referred to planning for the summer period when visitors to the area would increase considerably.  The Director of Public Health reported on the effort going into summer operations and the work with colleagues in regulatory services and trading standards in supporting businesses and that partners were as prepared as they can be.

Kate Ryan, Corporate Director welcomed the engagement on the plan and the role of Council services to minimise risk and harm.  In particular she referred to the detailed resort management plan which was ongoing to give confidence to the Health and Wellbeing Board on the multi-agency approach.

The Director of Public Health thanked all partners for their continued support.

RESOLVED – that the refresh of theLocal Outbreak Management Plan –Living Safelywith COVID-19 be noted and approved.

Voting: Agreed.