Issue - meetings

[To scrutinise the Wolverhampton Covid-19 Outbreak Control Plan – 2021 refresh]. 

The Director of Public Health introduced a report on the Wolverhampton Covid-19 Outbreak Control Plan – 2021 refresh.  The Covid landscape had changed dramatically right the way through the pandemic to date. This had consequently led to the plan being refreshed. 

The Director for Public Health presented a slide on the subject of, “What we’ve learned so far.”  He cited six important themes,

·       Shared Ownership

·       Shared Cultures

·       Shared Information

·       Shared Trust

·       Shared Goals

·       Shared Capacity

He showed a slide on the governance local arrangements, which highlighted the complexity of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The refreshed plan had seven key themes, which he listed as follows :-

·       Theme 1 – Care homes and educational settings

·       Theme 2 – Higher risk settings, communities and locations (including compliance and enforcement)

·       Theme 3 – Community Testing

·       Theme 4 – Contract Tracing

·       Theme 5 – Data integration and information sharing

·       Theme 6 – Vulnerable communities (including support to self-isolation)

·       Theme 7 – Governance and local boards

The Director of Public Health with regards to Care Homes commented it was important to provide as much support as possible, including specialist advice to limit the impact of the virus.  It was important to continue to support care settings to increase vaccine uptake within staff.  Looking ahead to the winter it was important measures were in place to reduce the risk of infection. 

The Director of Public Health with reference to Care Homes remarked that they had to ensure every possible support had been offered to these settings to contain and manage possible outbreaks. It was also important that education could continue at University in a safe manner. 

The Director of Public Health commented that they continued to support businesses at scale to access routine lateral flow testing.  They were also being proactive and reactive to enforcement activities working with West Midlands Police and Environmental Health.  They would proactively support businesses to re-open safely as lockdown eased and continue to collaborate with partner agencies, supporting workplaces to comply with legislation and guidance.  He praised the response from the faith groups within the City, in terms of leading the response within their communities.

The Director of Public Health presented a slide on community testing.  The City had been one of the first in the country to have a drive through testing site in partnership with NHS colleagues.  It was also one of the first to have community mobile testing programme and one of the first in the region to have mass testing.  This has been particularly valuable at Christmas time, when there had been a peek of the UK variant.  He was also pleased with the work of the local contact tracing team.  Data integration and sharing had been invaluable.  Lessons from this could be taken forward into the future, including as part of the Relighting Our City Strategy. 

The Director of Public Health highlighted the importance of getting as many people in the City to have their vaccine and as quickly as possible.  With time vaccine  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4