Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will announce details of the arrangements in case of fire or other events that might require the meeting room or building’s evacuation.

(If any) – receive

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting.

Members may still disclose any interest in any item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Committee held on 31^st March and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 31^st March 2021 were

agreed as a correct record and, due to COVID-19, will be signed by the

Chairman at a later date.

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.

Verbal update to be given by Mark Ansell, Director of Public Health

The Board was updated by the Director of Public Health on the Borough’s COVID-19 situation.

The Board noted that nearly 60% of the eligible population had now received their first COVID-19 vaccination dose, reducing the incidence of community transmission, hospitalisation and death in the borough. Members queried as to whether there were any systems in place to monitor and manage the effects of long Covid. Members were informed of the BHR Long Covid Clinic, and noted that Covid specific sharing information agreements were being arranged in BHR.

Verbal update to be given by Gareth Nicholson, Assistant Director Customer and Communications

The Board were updated on the Council’s latest COVID-19 Communications Strategy.

Members noted several deployed assets including leaflets posted to Havering residents, digital mobile displays, branded communications e.g., face masks, and paid advertisements.

Board members noted the ongoing #DoingMyBit campaign which won the Public Sector Communications Award for ‘Best Data-Driven Campaign’. The campaign was praised for its organic engagement with non-English speaking residents, with a volunteer call-out attracting over 300 new volunteers within a fortnight. Members were pleased to note that the campaign had been endorsed by West Ham United Football Club and Dr Aggarwal, Chair of Havering’s CCG. Members noted that as part of the campaign, over 90 #DoingMyBit billboards were displayed across Havering and over 1,600 face-to-face visits had been conducted with local businesses.