The report of the Director of Public Health is enclosed.

The Director of Public Health and Wellbeing submitted a report following on from the report submitted in July that detailed the COVID-19 Manchester Prevention and Response Plan. The report included a 12-point plan that incorporates all key programmes of work and mirrors the national and Greater Manchester approach. The Board also received a presentation from the Director of Public Health on the latest available data and intelligence (point 1) and the latest information on Targeted Testing at Scale (TTaS) (point 2) and Mass Vaccination (point 12). The Board was advised of the latest data available on Covid for Manchester and comparisons to GM.

The Chair invited comments and questions.

In welcoming the presentation and acknowledging the scale of the of the tasks involved in the 12 Point Plan, a member of the Board referred to the mention of dashboards in relation to care homes and Covid19, in Manchester and asked if the dashboards are accessible to the public.

It was reported that key public information on Covid19 is published on the Council’s website every Wednesday. The dashboard relating to care homes included information/data such as capacity levels and infection rates issues, however checks would be required for the information owners consent to ensure that no sensitive or commercial information is included in the dashboards before sharing with the public/ partner organisations.

A member of the Board referred to Point 11 of the plan and the work to the roll out a national programme for Lateral Flow Testing for care home visitors and asked officers how the geographic spread for the provision of the test might look.

The Director of Public Health and the Director of Adult Social Services reported that in preparation, contact had been made with ninety care home providers in Manchester, via a webinar. Checks had been made with each care home to establish individual readiness for testing and this would take account of the size of the care home and facilities available. There is a combined approach to the provision of the Lateral Flow Testing and care home providers have been offered support and guidance during preparations in addition to weekly communications from the Council, as part of the implementation of the Winter Plan. The Lateral Flow Tests have started to arrive in larger homes across GM (these are care homes with resident numbers over 50, with twelve home of that size in Manchester). The Council will mobilise it’s co-ordination plan to support those care home providers with a range of support and more would be known on the implementation of the tests in the following week/s. Officers are mindful of the high expectations of families and residents wishing to see each other and an assurance was given that everything is being done to facilitate family visiting in a safe way.

The Chair thanked officers for the report and presentation.

The Chair also thanked Health Service staff and Care staff for their work and commitment in continuing to provide important services over a very difficult ten months since the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic. It was noted that although there are positive signs beginning to emerge there would still be a challenging period during January and February 2021, which is the peak time for the provision of acute health services. The Chair also acknowledged the resilience of the primary health care sector following the challenges experienced during this period, which had reacted and performed well under such difficult circumstances. It was also noted that the challenge to the primary health care sector will extend into next year with the implementation of the mass vaccination programme.

Decision

The Board note the report.