Issue - meetings

Report and appendix attached to be presented by Mark Ansell, Director of Public Health

The Board was presented with the Council’s revised Outbreak Management Plan.

Members noted that the original version was published in June 2020 and the second version was presented in March 2021. It was explained that the revised version had taken into account new policy and feedback from Test and Trace (Quality Assurance Framework). It was noted that capacity for asymptomatic had been increased by the introduction of click & collect and home delivery systems. Members were reminded of the historical contact tracing procedures, and were informed of a new opportunity to include backward contact tracing (identifying the source of transmission) as part of the enhanced contact tracing response.

Members were informed that confirmatory PCR testing had been re-introduced to monitor emerging variants and to mitigate against the risk of false positives during periods of low virus prevalence. The Board was also briefed on the surge testing response plan. There was general consensus that data sharing systems with the Borough’s Primary Care Networks (PCNs) would improve the effectiveness of outbreak and population health management. The Director of Public Health made a commitment to involve PCNs in the event that surge testing was necessitated in the borough.

The Board agreed the second version of the Outbreak Management Plan.

Report and appendix attached

It was explained to the Board that Local authorities were required to revise their Covid-19 Outbreak Management Plans (OMPs), and to have submitted a first draft OMP to NHS Test and Trace by 12 March.

The Board noted that the second version of Havering’s OMP took into account the additional tools and resources that had been made available and focused on disrupting intermission and suppressing infection rates on a local level. It was also noted that the OMP could be changed in accordance the changing characteristics of COVID-19.