Agenda item

To note an update on Southwark council’s outbreak prevention and control plan:

·  Testing

Jin Lim, Director of Public Health, Children’s and Adults’ Services introduced the report and drew the Board’s attention to the recommendations of the report and the following three strands in the Council’s outbreak prevention and control plan, January 2021.

  i.  Prevent

  ii.  Identify

  iii.  Control

Chris Williamson, Head of Public Health Intelligence delivered a presentation to cover surveillance on COVID-19, from the monitoring report as part of Southwark’s Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan, January 2021. The tabled presentation covered data on the following areas:

  i.  Key Messages

  ii.  Testing

  iii.  Contact Tracing

  iv.  Cases

  v.  Case Demographics

  vi.  Case Distribution

  vii.  Secondary Care

  viii.  Vaccinations

  ix.  Horizon Scanning

In response to a question and answer session, the Board noted the following points:

·  In response to increase coverage, all the vaccines received had been rolled out to be delivered to the people of Southwark in Southwark.

·  The proposed long-term programme would cover at least nine months and help address those who were feeling hesitant about receiving their vaccine.

·  There was a need to encourage people to update their contact details with their local GPs so everyone could be reached either by telephone or text.

·  Approximately 100+ people in London were infected by the South African variant of the virus and the small number of those in Southwark had not been infected by it from overseas travel.

·  The lateral flow tests were just part of the process to monitor and respond to an individual’s COVID-19 test result – lateral flow tests were not a case of “test to release”.

·  The national priority groups covered 1 – 4 and there had been little wastage of vaccines in January 2021.

·  A daily reserve list was in place to avoid wastage and it was important to be mindful that people were still undecided or simply could not make their appointment.

·  The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine allowed vaccinations to take place for those that were housebound.

·  Those that were in the priority groups 1 – 4 and felt that they had not been contacted to book their vaccination appointment should not hesitate to get in touch to make an appointment:

RESOLVED:

1.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board received and noted the update from the Outbreak Prevention and Control Executive on the actions taken to prevent, identify and control the novel coronavirus pandemic in Southwark, implementing Southwark’s Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan, Appendix 1 of the report.

2.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board considered and noted the Southwark vaccination framework and local approach being taken to address vaccine hesitancy and to ensure good uptake across all our communities, Appendix 2 of the report and the associated vaccine communications and engagement action plan, Appendix 3 of the report.

3.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board agreed to establish a member and officer board across the Council and CCG to provide strategic oversight for the development and delivery of the local vaccination framework and associated delivery plan.

4.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board agreed to establish as a sub group of the Health and Wellbeing Board chaired by the Cabinet Member for Public Health and Community Safety reporting back progress as part of the Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan.