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

The Director of Public Health and Medical Director, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning, will circulate a presentation on the latest available data relating to Manchester COVID-19 rates and the Manchester Vaccination Programme. 

The Committee considered the joint presentation of the Director of Public Health and the Executive Clinical Director, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning, that had been circulated to all Members in advance of the meeting. The presentations provided an update on COVID-19 activity that included the latest available information on data and intelligence.

The Director of Public Health provided the latest information and response to the variant of concern, Omicron. He noted that at that time of reporting there had been no deaths in Manchester attributed to Omicron, however the emerging situation continued to be monitored very closely both at a local and national level to understand the transmissible rates of this variant and levels of community transmissions. He described that local teams were in place to support those people required to self-isolate and he further commented that sites, such as schools, would be supported to manage any outbreaks.

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

·         Noting the variant of concern, Omicron;

·         An update was sought on the impact of the mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for Health and Social Care staff;

·         Recognising the urgent need for all residents to come forward for their booster jabs and in particular those who had still not had their first vaccination;

·         Describing inconsistencies in the approach taken by some Care Homes in regard to the numbers of visitors permitted;

·         The need to understand the correlation between the number of hospital admissions and patients who had been vaccinated; and

·         Welcoming the extension to the cohorts being encouraged to obtain their booster jabs.

The Director of Public Health stated that Care Homes were required to comply with the current guidance regarding visitors.  He said that if the Member had specific concerns regarding a site that he could discuss this outside of the meeting.

In regard to the issue of mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for Health and Social Care staff, the Deputy Director of Adult Social Services stated that currently this only applied to staff in Care Homes, noting that the deadline for all Health staff, including ancillary staff such as porters or receptionists who might have social contact with patients but were not directly involved in their care, as well as staff in the wider care market e.g. homecare, supported accommodation was 1 April 2022. She described that the uptake amongst care homes in Manchester had been positive, however some staff had been lost due to not wishing to take the vaccine. She advised that regular contact was maintained with providers to ensure safe and appropriate levels of care continued to be provided.

The Director of Public Health noted the comment regarding the relationship between hospital admissions and patients who were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated. He stated that he would discuss with health partners to ascertain if this data was collected and if so, this would be reported to the Committee in a future update. In regard to the importance for those residents who had not been vaccinated to come forward he made reference to the role of trusted community messaging and the breadth of work of COVID-19 Health Equity Manchester who had attended and presented at the October meeting (see minutes of 13 October 2021 reference HSC/21/40 Building Back Fairer in Manchester).

Decision

The Committee recommend that information on the relationship between COVID-19 hospital admissions and patient vaccination status be provided in future updates.