To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2021.

Decision

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2021 as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Public Health, Manchester City Council and the Medical Director, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning

The Director of Public Health (DPH) will deliver a presentation on the latest available data relating to Manchester with a particular focus on the plans to respond to Variants of Concern (VOCs) including the B.1.617.2 (Indian) variant.  A key element of the prevention response to VOCs will be the ongoing and accelerated roll out of the Manchester Vaccination Programme.  The Medical Director, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning will therefore provide the Committee with an overview of the current Spring Action Plan and a look ahead at how the programme will continue throughout the summer and autumn. 

The Committee considered the joint presentation of the Director of Public Health and the Executive Clinical Director Manchester Health and Care Commissioning that provided an update on COVID-19 activity that included the latest available information on data and intelligence.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·         The Committee paid tribute to the Director of Public Health, his team, all health partners and volunteers for their response to the pandemic;

·         Noting the prevalence of Variants of Concern in boroughs within Greater Manchester, did teams work collaboratively across borders to plan and respond to these events as and when they arose;

·         A Member commented that government inaction had resulted in the spread of the Indian Variant;

·         A view was sought as to the efficacy of Lateral Flow Tests (LFT);

·         Why were the vaccination rates in the Piccadilly and Deansgate wards relatively low; 

·         What work was being done to ensure people with Learning Disabilities and other groups, such as travellers, were vaccinated;

·         Information needed to be provided in all languages that were represented within the city; and

·         Was data available relating to the number of hospital admissions for those that had not been vaccinated.

The Director of Public Health responded by informing the Committee that Public Health teams did work collaboratively across borders to respond to both existing and emerging issues to deliver a coordinated response. He reassured Members that the supplies of vaccines remained sufficient across all wards. 

The Director of Public Health stated that it was important for all members of the public to observe and adhere to Public Health guidance to mitigate the spread of infection. He further commented that it was the effectiveness of the UK laboratories that undertake genomic sequencing that quickly identified Variants of Concern. With regard to LFTs he stated that supervised tests were more reliable, however as people began to become more used to administrating these themselves there was increased confidence that the testing was more effective. He stated that it remained the case that if an LFT provided a positive result the person should undertake a Laboratory PCR test and residents should continue to check for symptoms.

With regard to the relatively low vaccination rates for the Piccadilly and Deansgate wards the Director of Public Health commented that this could be explained due to a relatively high number of young, transient and often unregistered residents.

The Director of Public Health stated that hospitals were looking to collect data in relation to COVID-19 admissions to identify the numbers of those patients who had been vaccinated.

With regard to Learning Disabled citizens and the traveller community, the Director of Public Health stated that there were a number of initiatives that involved working with partners and across borders to engage with different groups and promote the take up of vaccination, similar to those described within the presentation.   

The Executive Member for Health and Care reiterated the appreciation expressed by the Committee to the Public Health team, staff working across the NHS  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report includes a summary of key decisions that are within the Committee’s remit as well as an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend or agree as appropriate. 

The report also contains additional information including details of those organisations that have been inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) within Manchester since the Health Scrutiny Committee last met.

The report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit which contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit and responses to previous recommendations was submitted for comment. Members were also invited to agree the Committee’s future work programme.

The Committee noted that it would be discussing the work programme for the forthcoming municipal year in further detail in a private session following the meeting, and that an updated work programme reflecting this discussion would be circulated as normal in the papers for the next meeting.

Decision

The Committee note the report.

The officers consider that the following item contains exempt information as provided for in the Local Government Access to Information Act and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Committee is recommended to agree the necessary resolutions excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of this item.

Decision

To exclude the public during consideration of the following item which involved consideration of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons and public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer

This report is provides an overview of how cross-cutting themes in the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 reset document are covered by the Council’s Scrutiny Committees during the 2021/22 municipal year.

The report is to form part of the Work Programming session at the rise of this meeting for Committee Members only.

The Committee considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer that provided an overview of how cross-cutting themes in the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 reset document were covered by MCC Scrutiny Committees during the 2021/22 municipal year.

Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 had reset Manchester’s priorities for the next five years to ensure we could achieve the city’s ambitions set out in the Our Manchester Strategy 2016 – 2025.

Decision

The Committee note the report.