Agenda item

To receive and note a presentation from the Community Health Ambassadors Programme.

 

Jin Lim, Director of Public Health (Acting), introduced the report and drew the Board’s attention to the addendum report and the refreshed outbreak prevention and control plan in Supplemental Agenda No.1, pages 1 – 52.

 

The following points were noted for the three strands of the plan:

 

i.  Prevent – There had been comms. engagement around the vaccination programme and work continues with regulatory and enforcement services.

 

ii.  Identify – Rapid testing was now possible at a new test site in London Bridge station. 

 

iii.  Control – Continue to provide an acute response service. 

 

Chris Williamson, Head of Public Health Intelligence delivered a presentation to report the latest COVID-19 statistics from a tabled presentation. The tabled presentation would be available in Supplemental Agenda No. 2 after the meeting.

 

The presentation covered the following areas:

 

i.  Key Messages

ii.  Cases

iii.  Case Distribution

iv.  Contact Tracing

v.  Secondary Care

vi.  Horizon Scanning

 

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

 

·  The Board expressed their regrets for the number of people who had died from COVID-19 in the borough.

 

·  Further research was still needed to know more about the South African and Brazilian variant of the virus which was the same position concerning the variant from Kent. 

 

The Chair thanked Jin and Chris for their presentations and introduced Anthony Lobo, Public Health Programme Officer to deliver a presentation on the Council’s Community Ambassadors Programme.

 

Anthony presented a tabled presentation, Supplemental Agenda No. 2, Appendix 3, pages 9 - 18. The tabled presentation covered the following areas:

 

i.  Introduction to Southwark’s Community Health Ambassadors Network;

ii.  Role of Ambassadors

iii.  Ambassador Criteria and Expectations

iv.  Support for Ambassadors

v.  Number of Ambassadors signed up

vi.  Feedback received from Ambassadors

vii.  BBC Segment on the Ambassador Programme

viii.  Growing the Ambassador Network

ix.  Longer terms plans for the Ambassador Network

 

Anthony went on to introduce two community ambassadors that were in attendance and to participate in the question and answer session.

 

The Chair thanked Anthony for his presentation and welcomed Patricia Kanneh-Fitzgerald and Yetunde Pamole-Ogunseye to the discussion. Patricia and Yetunde explained to the Board why they chose to be a community ambassador and what their community activities involved.

 

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

 

·  Addressing misinformation about COVID-19 had been the most challenging aspect as a community ambassador.

 

·  Uncovering a level of inequalities in the community was not originally envisaged and working towards addressing them was the aim.

 

·  The Council’s outbreak prevention and control plan will need to advocate BAME workforce in mental health services to better support those that need them and be representative of the community.

 

·  Ambassadors established a voice to better connect with others and in the community.

 

·  A learning curve remained for those that were still hesitant about taking the vaccine and were still being led by fake news. Especially amongst the males aged between 25 and 45.

 

·  Needed to empower people to understand and work towards the same aim in getting the vaccination and move forward.

 

·  Keeping safe, addressing fears and breaking down barriers was the focus. For example three “F”s were at the centre:

i.  Fake – addressing fake news

ii.  Fear – eliminating fear

iii.Fact – have a fact dealing group

 

·  The ambassadors believe PCNs deserve a pay rise as they were saving lives by risking their own from being front line workers.

 

·  The ambassador programme enabled positive reach with the community with the use of social media platforms to support the Council’s aim.

 

·  Important to inform the community that the virus was “real” and not fake. People should get their vaccine. Make it fashionable like giving a wearable incentive to make it popular.

 

·  Being factual and being real was working towards spreading the word. Need to target people of the relevant age group like those between 25 to 45 and using social media to reach them and in faith settings.

 

·  Leading by example goes along way and sharing videos of people taking the vaccination can help raise awareness and increase uptake.

 

·  The Council had over 70 community ambassadors in the programme and the figure was still rising.

 

·  If anyone wanted to know more about the programme they were encouraged to visit the following website:

https://www.communitysouthwark.org/community-health-ambassadors-network

 

The Chair thanked Patricia and Yetunde for their time and contributions to the discussion and agreed with Councillor Akoto’s view that the community ambassador programme should be strengthened to help address other community engagement priorities.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board received and noted the refreshed Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan (OPCP) as set out in Appendix 1 of the report.

 

2.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board noted that the OPCP was very much a ‘live’ document and would evolve and change with ongoing new guidance, challenges and pandemic developments. Comments and feedback were welcomed by emailing publichealth@southwark.gov.uk.

 

3.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board welcomed and thanked the Community Health Ambassadors for their support and work with local communities.

 

4.  That the Health and Wellbeing Board endorsed the further development and strengthening of communications and engagement in order to increase vaccination uptake and tackle hesitancy and misinformation (Appendix 2).