To consider a verbal report by the Director of Public Health
Minutes:
The Director of
Public Health took the opportunity to inform the Board of what had been done by
Public Health Dorset (PHD) - in partnership with other heath bodies GP’s;
Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group; the NHS, emergency services; and Dorset
and BCP Councils - to address and manage the Coronavirus pandemic within Dorset
over recent months.
The Board were
given a presentation illustrating the local outbreak management plan, how it
was being applied and managed and what was being done in practice, along with
other associated information pertaining to the pandemic, to put what PHD was
doing – and had done - in some context, this being:-
National context
•
Northern
metropolitan areas and cities hit hardest
•
Low
number of cases in BCP Council area and Dorset Council area
•
Impact
of COVID-19 bigger in areas with higher multiple deprivation
•
BAME
groups more at risk of poor outcomes, obesity, diabetes, age, male gender and
occupation also key risks, as is poverty
•
Enhanced
surveillance is key over the next few weeks
•
Planning
for winter, and return of COVID-19 with potential for seasonal influenza also
hitting hard
•
Care
homes continue to be setting of highest concern nationally
Outbreak
management
•
Local
outbreak plans will be our first line of defence against going back to national
lockdown
•
Developing
key actions for high risk settings through COVID-19 Health Protection Board
•
Health
and Wellbeing Board in each Council functions as Local outbreak Engagement
Board
•
Relationships
built during crisis and first wave will stand us in good stead if we need to
respond quickly
•
Capacity
planning, scaling testing quickly, good, clear communications and engagement
all key actions for an effective plan
•
Supported
by Test and Trace Grant in each council, worth £1.28M and £1.8M
Outbreak
Management Plans
Next Steps
•
Regional
and local assurance on readiness of plans – exercising, action cards,
resourcing and capacity plan
•
Re-shaping
Public Health Dorset business plan and re-prioritising into two workstreams –
recovery (BAU) and response (outbreak preparedness and response)
•
Capacity
and resourcing within team feels about right – short term investments in
modelling capability, backfill for Environmental Health Officer support,
community and voluntary sector response to support self-isolating, IPC
training, testing
Given the
unprecedented circumstances in having to deal with such a pandemic, it was a
seen to be a credit to PHD in how this ad been managed and as a consequence how
relatively successful it had proven to be. Relatively low contagion and
transmission rates had meant that the success seen in suppressing such an
infectious and contagious virus was seen to be largely attributable to how PHD
managed it, what had been done in practice to do this; and the preparations
they had made to do so. The acts of social distancing, hand washing and
isolation - which had been generally well observed in Dorset - had meant that
containment of the virus had been relatively successful, compared to if this
had not been the case.
Moreover the
ability to maintain what PHD services offered and could do throughout this
outbreak was to the benefit of Dorset, its residents and visitors in being
assured that continuity as far as practicable. Considerable emphasis was placed
on what partnership arrangements had achieved in addressing the outbreak, with
those organisations identified above - as well as the voluntary sector and
individuals – all playing their significant part in contributing to ensuring,
firstly, that the ability to maintain satisfactory critical care in the NHS was
not compromised or overwhelmed as well as how the prevention of the
transmission of the virus might be mitigated and the arrangements put in place
to be able to do this.
Having understood
all that was explained, the Board took the opportunity to ask a series of questions
about other aspects of the pandemic including the coronavirus itself; social
isolation; individual personal hygiene measures; transmission rates and
dynamics; ethnicity disparity; tracking tracing and testing; PPE; and
vaccination prospects to clarify what PHD had done to address those issues and
how this had been achieved and what success it had.
In answer to one
particular question the Director explained that the virus was likely to be seen
to be more virulent during wintertime - when there was more chance people would
be indoors for longer periods, with more people - so there was potentially more
opportunity for it being able to be transmitted, as well as coinciding with the
period that other viruses were apparent, the cumulative effect of this being
that this could prove to be a challenging time for the NHS. Conversely, time
being spent outdoors when the weather was warmer and there was greater
opportunity to socially distance, meant that this transmission opportunity was
lessened.
The Director was
confident that lockdown had contributed significantly to breaking the chain of
transmission along with the observations of social distancing and individual
hand hygiene being applied, observed and complied with had gone a long way to
Covid-19 being dissipated as it had.
The Board
appreciated what PHD had done in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and how this
had been achieved, being seen to be a credit to how important PHD preventative
work was, which demonstrably demonstrated how Dorset and its residents
benefitted from it. They hoped this
positive response could be maintained and looked forward to receiving a
further, positive update at their November meeting.
Resolved
That the Outbreak
Management Plans and how these were being applied be welcomed and endorsed and
should be maintained and improved, as practicable.
Reason for
Decision
To ensure cases of
Covid-19 remained as low as they possibly could be in Dorset.