Agenda item

Report ACH22-013

The Board considered a report providing an overview of the Public Health Department’s management of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which it was noted would also be presented to the Adult Care and Health Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee on 28^th June 2022.

The Director of Public Health advised Board Members that management of communicable diseases was a part of the Health Protection function which was one of the Public Health statutory functions. Public Health functions in the Local Authority had been defined in the Health and Care Bill 2012. The basis for the Public Health management of the COVID-19 pandemic had been the Bromley Outbreak Management Plan. Public Heath completed and published the first plan in June 2020, pulling together all key partners in the borough. The plan had been updated several times and was overseen by the Health Protection Board. There were a number of workstreams overseeing different aspects of the pandemic response and each of these workstreams had developed and changed as the pandemic had progressed. The Public Health team led in setting up new services to manage the pandemic such as contact tracing, community testing, testing in schools, surge testing and setting up systems to prevent and manage outbreaks. They had also worked closely with SEL CCG on the vaccination programme.

During the pandemic several members of staff in the Public Health team moved from ‘business as usual’ to working on the response to the pandemic almost entirely, leaving those not working on the pandemic to keep all the other work going. Key areas of work were:

1.  Surveillance – which included producing a weekly report on the COVID-19 situation in the borough, which was circulated to Councillors and Members of the Health and Wellbeing Board.

2.  Outbreak management – the Public Health team had managed or supported a very large number of outbreaks in different settings. This included incident management meetings and subsequent review meetings with a large number of care homes and schools, which had been a significant amount of work.

3.  COVID-19 clinical response service – delivered by Public Health Nurses, provided infection prevention and control (IPC) advice, support and responses to enquiries received from a wide range of health and care professionals in different settings, including businesses as well as from the general public.

4.  Local contact tracing service – a new service, which was established in October 2020, and ended on 23^rd February 2022.

5.  Community testing service – programme based on Government guidance.

6.  COVID-19 Vaccination – support had included communication and engagement events with residents, schools, care homes, social media campaigns, webinars; vaccine sprint campaign; vaccination of vulnerable and hard-to reach communities; and a vaccine hesitancy and inequalities workstream.

7.  Prevention/Communication and engagement – Public Health had worked closely with the Communication Team and other LBB and external colleagues to ensure that the latest messages on prevention were available to Bromley residents in public places and on the LBB website.

The Director of Public Health said that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused significant morbidity and mortality in the population, but it had also led to numerous improvements in the way everyone worked. The Association of Directors of Public Health had led a peer-review process across London with the aim to identify key lessons learnt and legacy that should be preserved for the future. The key areas identified in Bromley included:

-  Partnership working – both within the Council and across different agencies and stakeholders.The joint working to support care settings had been recognised as excellent work and awarded the National MJ Award.

-  Flexibility of workforce – the workforce had shown a great flexibility and ability to take on different roles in a short period of time. Within Public Health, clinical staff were able to pick up health protection roles very quickly with short training and updating. Across the Council, staff were able to fulfil various roles and used their transferable skills to support COVID-19 management.

-  Good sub-regional working – the six SE London Public Health teams had worked closely together during the pandemic which had enabled joint working and sharing of information.

The Chairman congratulated the Director of Public Health and her team for all the work undertaken throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and thanked the partners, volunteers and helpers for their engagement – the partnership working, and communication had been key. It was noted that Councillors had been involved with the vaccine sprint and the local intelligence used to encourage the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccinations was highlighted. Christopher Evans, Community Links Bromley echoed the comments made by the Chairman. It was noted that the resources and spaces utilised to deliver the vaccination programme were often in voluntary and community settings, which had often led to the displacement of the usual activities held there. The mobilisation of the COVID-19 vaccine programme had been immense – this was still ongoing, and continued to be supported.

A  Member enquired if a plan was in place with the voluntary sector for their assistance, if requited, during the winter period. The Director of Public Health advised that a plan was in place so assistance could be stepped up and the department also had a substantial spreadsheet of volunteers and charities that could be contacted if needed.

With regards to the Health Protection Champions network mentioned in the report, a Member noted that it would be interesting to see how this developed in terms of partner engagement with communities in the future as inequalities had been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Director of Public Health advised that the report provided focused on the Local Authority element, and not the totality of COVID-19 management. Work to address vaccine hesitancy was continuing and the Borough Based Director – SEL CCG would be leading on future plans to address wider general health issues and preventative services. The Borough Based Director – SEL CCG said that they were looking to build in a holistic approach for different communities – a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic had been held at the Keston Mosque, and this model would be built upon. For example, there would be a stall at the upcoming Penge Festival to host drop-in session for blood pressure checks. The Borough Based Director said she would be happy to provide a report to Board Members regarding learning from the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

A Member enquired if the vaccine sprint events had improved vaccine uptake in the areas identified. The Director of Public Health said they believed it had made a difference – however as there was an enormous amount of other work going on, it was not possible to say that the increase in uptake was only due to the vaccine sprint. The totality of the work undertaken had led to Bromley having one of the best COVID-19 vaccination rates across South East London.

In response to a question from the Chairman, the Director of Public Health said that the current advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) was that those eligible for the flu vaccination, and aged 65+, would be offered a second booster (fourth dose) in the autumn, however further discussions were taking place around enlarging this cohort to those aged 50+. It was also proposed that in the spring, those aged 75+ and vulnerable cohorts would be offered a third booster dose, six months after their second booster.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.