Report of the Director of Public Health

This report provides a brief overview of the current plans to ensure the City of Manchester can respond effectively to the respective phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and deal with the wider societal impacts.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Population Health that provided a brief overview of the current plans to ensure the City of Manchester could respond effectively to the respective phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report provided an introduction and background to the development of Coronavirus, both in a national and international context. The report further described the National Guidance published on 3 March 2020.

The report provided information on the Manchester response to the emerging situation stating that preparations to respond to COVID-19 had commenced in early January following an assessment of the emerging situation in Wuhan (Manchester’s sister city) and Hubei Province.

The Board were informed that a decision had been made to rename the Manchester Health Protection Group which already had a formal link to the Manchester Health and Wellbeing Board, as the Manchester COVID-19 Locality Planning Group (MCLPG) for the duration of the pandemic. 

The MCLPG would fulfil the functions of the ‘Borough/City Pandemic Co-ordinating Group’ as set out in the Greater Manchester Resilience Forum Pandemic Plan. The MCLPG would also report to the Greater Manchester Strategic Co-ordination Group and link to NHS COVID-19 Incident Management Teams and the Council’s Resilience Forum.

The Board were invited to review the Terms of Reference that were provided with the report and are set out below. Included with this was the key responsibilities, membership and a draft of the current governance and reporting arrangements. The Board noted that the governance and reporting arrangements would be further updated following discussions with Manchester City Council and NHS Organisations.

Terms of Reference

1.         Introduction

1.1       The Manchester Health Protection Group is the established group for all health protection issues in Manchester.  It meets quarterly and has a formal reporting and governance line to the Health and Wellbeing Board agreed in 2013.  The group is chaired by the Director of Public Health.

1.2       It is proposed to rename the Manchester Health Protection Group as the Manchester COVID-19 Locality Planning Group (MCLPG) for the duration of the COVID-19 national incident.  This will ensure a direct escalation route to the Health and Wellbeing Board, chaired by the Leader of the City Council, and with all relevant Manchester NHS organisations represented on it.  The Christie is not represented on the Health and Wellbeing Board because it is a regional centre, however, for COVID-19 they will link into the Manchester structures.

1.3       Furthermore, the MCLPG will fulfil the functions of the “Borough Pandemic Co-ordinating Group” set out in the Greater Manchester Resilience Forum Pandemic Strategic Response Plan.  The Plan does relate to an influenza outbreak situation but many of the general principles contained in the plan will guide the work on COVID-19.

1.4       The MCLPG will report to the GM Strategic Co-ordination Group (GMSCG) and link to NHS Incident Management Teams and the Council’s Resilience Forum.

1.5       The key responsibilities of the group are provided in Appendix 1 and these have been “lifted” from the GM Pandemic Plan document.  They have been amended to reflect the evolving COVID-19 situation.

2.         Membership

2.1       The core membership of the group is attached as Appendix 2.  A set of structure charts and reporting arrangements are attached as Appendix 3.

2.2       People attending the meeting must have delegated authority from their respective organisations so that decisions can be made quickly. A number of workstreams/sub groups will be established to respond to the various phases of the UK outbreak, namely:

1. Containment

2. Delay

3. Mitigation

4. Research

3.         Frequency of meetings

3.1       It is planned to have weekly meetings for March and April with a review at the end of this period.  It will be important to give sufficient time for sub groups to implement plans agreed.

3.2       All meetings will be structured with an agreed agenda and key actions will be recorded to enable rapid circulation of information.”

The Director of Adult Social Services provided an oral update by stating that a control room had been established to coordinate the response to the emerging situation and to provide support and advice to care providers. She advised that Personal Protective Equipment had been delivered to providers and the Care Quality Commission had expedited the registration of local providers to increase capacity within the sector. She said that the Manchester Local Care Organisation was actively working to identify and support any persons with complex needs to ensure the most vulnerable residents were supported at this time. She concluded by stating that the situation would continue to be monitored in line with Government guidance and legislation.

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services advised that the situation across a range of provisions and services, including schools, foster carers and Pupil Referral Units continued to be closely monitored and consideration given to how they can all be best supported in line with current Public Health England and the Department for Education guidance. He stated that day to day services were being reviewed and reprioritised, noting that consideration would be given to redeploying staff where appropriate to undertake other duties to support service and protect residents.

The Chair Manchester Health and Care Commissioning stated that changes had been introduced to Primary Care settings, noting the introduction of telephone triage for patients, recognising the need to protect both patients and colleagues. She stated that work force planning was underway and would be continually reviewed to respond and plan effectively during this period. She further advised that Manchester would lead on the response to support the homeless during this period on behalf of Greater Manchester.

The Executive Member for Adult Health and Wellbeing recognised and paid tribute to the commitment and dedication of all staff working across the public sector in their response to this emerging situation. Noting the work of the Council and its partners to effectively coordinate the support and serviced provided to protect the residents of the city. She recognised the role of the established local Neighbourhood Teams, working collaboratively with partners in the health service to support vulnerable residents and local community initiatives, such as food banks and other sources of support.

The Leader reiterated the comment of the Executive Member for Adult Health and Wellbeing by recognising the work of all staff during these difficult and challenging times. He acknowledged that in response to the emerging situation consideration would need to be given as to what services were provided by the Council and that staff resources would be utilised in the most appropriate way to ensure essential and critical services continued to be delivered.

The Leader further commented that he recognised that many Mancunians may experience financial difficulties during this period and he encouraged residents to contact the Council as soon as they were experiencing this for support and advice. He stated that there would be a need to reduce face to face contact and he encouraged residents to contact the Council via email, adding that IT systems were available in public libraries.    

Decision

To note the report and approve the formal establishment of the Manchester COVID-19 Locality Planning Group as set out in Annex A of the report, with the Terms of Reference as set out above.