Agenda item

To receive a report from Liz Noakes, Director of Public Health, Telford & Wrekin Council.

The Health and Wellbeing Board received a report from Liz Noakes, Director of Public Health at Telford and Wrekin Council detailing the Telford & Wrekin Local Outbreak Prevention & Control Plan. The report defined the system wide collaborative approach that the Plan intended to take in preventing and containing outbreaks of COVID-19 within Telford & Wrekin. This was to be done through working with key partners such as the NHS, the Public Health England and others, in conjunction with the wider NHS Test and Trace programme. Likewise, the report also detailed the newly established governance and coordination arrangements for outbreak prevention within Telford and Wrekin, which would receive oversight from the COVID Health Protection Board and the Member-led Local Outbreak Engagement Board.

The Health and Wellbeing Board also received a presentation from the Director of Public Health during the meeting which included the following topics:

·         The number of COVID-19 cases in Telford & Wrekin in the week ending July 5^th 2020.

·         The number of reported Outbreaks within Telford & Wrekin until the date of the meeting.

·         The number of COVID-19 related deaths in Telford & Wrekin until the date of the meeting.

·         The Telford and Wrekin Local Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan.

·         The Telford & Wrekin Council Health Protection Hub.

·         Delivering the Plan and the expectations and risks associated.

·         Proposed governance of the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin response to the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 infections and deaths.

·         The Communication Plan to ensure that everyone is able to be COVID secured and what to do if there is an outbreak.

Members congratulated officers for the Telford & Wrekin Local Outbreak Prevention & Control Plan, however warned that there was no room for complacency, as the current number of cases was expected to fluctuate as lockdown was eased.

Members expressed their concern about the Test and Trace Programme and how historically this information was not shared with the Council by the central government. Members wondered what data the Council had available to use. The Director for Public Health responded by confirming the types of data she had available to use, which were postcode, the age and the type of test was done on individuals that had tested positive for COVID-19 within the borough. However she did not have the contact details for the individual cases to be able to track and trace as this was done a national level for a simple cases, or regional if they were more complicated cases. The Director for Public Health concluded that she did not see the see connections or linkages between the cases and the contact until there is an outbreak.

Members followed this up by asking if it was possible within the near future that local government would have access to this data because it was a cause for concern that they did not already. The Director for Public Health responded by saying she did not know if this would happen, but wanted to assure the Board that if she was notified of a case and are able to contact the individual, then the Council also undertakes a tracking and tracing programme in order to gain a complete picture of the situation.

Members queried why there were no measureable targets and goals within the report which could be used to indicate the progress of the plan.  The Director for Public Health responded by saying that the reduction of COVID-19 infections in Telford and Wrekin within the seven day infection rates was the main measurable target which indicated how successful the plan was working.