Agenda item

Report ACH20-055

The Board had been provided with the final version of the Annual Public Health Report (APHR) 2020.

All Directors of Public Health produce an Annual Public Health Report to raise the profile of emerging health issues or to highlight an area of particular interest to a wide variety of audiences. The LBB Director of Public Health advised that the APHR for Bromley for 2020 focused on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). One of the key reasons for this was that Bromley was seeing a significant increase of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), particularly syphilis and gonorrhoea, and a Needs Assessment had been completed to look at the reasons for this. A reduction in sexually transmitted diseases had also been selected as an area of focus for one of Public Health’s Transformation Programmes as the funding of treatment was a cost implication to the Council.

The APHR described the major Sexually Transmitted Infections and would be

used as a tool for raising awareness. A brief outline for the report highlighted that the audience included GPs; the general population; hospitals; and schools (pupils and teachers). Its content included:

-   Introducing the key Sexually Transmitted Infections;

-   Interventions and the evidence of their effectiveness;

-   Key facts in Bromley;

-   What were we doing now for Bromley residents?;

-   What were we developing for Bromley residents?; and

-   Impact of COVID-19.

The LBB Director of Public Health noted that a short addendum to the APHR would be published to provide updated figures. Board Members were informed that the updated figures showed that the trend had continued, with STDs increasing, although overall STIs numbers were fairly stable. It was noted that cases of syphilis had more than doubled, and gonorrhoea had increased by 50%, that year – the overall figure was the highest recorded since 1980.

The LBB Assistant Director of Public Health highlighted the importance of effective early identification. Prevention methods included the use of condoms, which was the most cost-effective, and testing which allowed more people with an infection to be identified. This indicated the need to continue to monitor and tackle STIs, which were an issue across both younger and older adult age groups.

The Chairman noted that the impact of COVID-19 had been included in the report. It was suggested that the introduction to the report should include text to advise that the theme of the APHR had been chosen prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, and highlight that a major role of the Public Health teams’ work had focussed on the pandemic, for which weekly reports were produced. The LBB Director of Public Health confirmed that this additional text would be added.

In reference to page 71 of the agenda pack, a Board Member highlighted that access to Emergency Hormonal Contraception continued to contribute to the decline in teenage pregnancies figures, however it should be acknowledged that this was not prevention, which was the real issue. The Board Member also sought clarification of the term ‘middle super output areas’ (MSOAs). The LBB Director of Public Health advised that MSOAs referred to a statistical area for which they received data, usually smaller than the size of a borough ward. It was agreed that this term would be defined in the APHR glossary.

The Chairman passed on his thanks to the LBB Director of Public Health and her team for the excellent work they had undertaken in producing the APHR report.

RESOLVED that the Annual Public Health Report update be noted.