Agenda and minutes

Terms of Reference for the Local Outbreak Engagement Board as approved by Council on 15^th July, 2020.

The Board received and noted the Terms of Reference for the Local Outreach Engagement Board which had been approved by Full Council at the July meeting and been appointed as a Sub-Committee of Cabinet.

The Board would be responsible for strategic oversight of health protection regarding Covid-19 in Southampton including prevention, surveillance, planning and response to ensure the needs of the population were met.  This Board would be an opportunity to interact and for members of the public to ask questions.  The Board would not be a decision making body, any formal decisions needed would be taken via current processes and mechanisms of Council, Cabinet of Officer Delegated Decision.  

The Board noted the appointed membership of the Board together with representation from partner organisations who would be in attendance and support the work of the Board.

The Board also noted that there was a Health Protection Board which sat under this Board and was the operational arm of the arrangements and had been in operation since May and was chaired by the Director of Public Health supported by the Executive Director for Adult Social Care.

The Board received and noted the report of the Director of Public Health detailing the Southampton Outbreak Control Plan and Programme which became a requirement from May 2020 when all upper tier Local Authorities were asked to ensure they had robust Covid-19 outbreak Control Plans in place to support the national effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infection.  In line with national guidance the Council published their plan on 30^th June 2020 to supplement existing public health, emergency planning and outbreak control plans.

The Board noted that the plan had been developed as a multi-agency plan with key aims of prevention, managing and containing any outbreaks and supporting those that needed help. The plan would be an evolving plan and responsive to changes in national policy, lessons learnt from other areas and from within Southampton’s own systems as information was collated, intelligence analysed, behavioural insights and feedback from partners and residents.

Report of the Interim Director of Public Health outlining the Local Outbreak Communications Plan

The Board received and noted the report of the Director of Public Health detailing the Local Outbreak Communications Plan that had been put in place since the outset of the Covid-19 Pandemic and carried out extensive work to communicate national and local guidance, changes to services and access support to the most vulnerable. 

The Board noted that since the start of the pandemic an additional 6000 social media channels had been recruited and was seen as a trusted voice and keeping guidance clear and concise.  The Communication Plan had several objectives in place with actions to ensure delivery which was detailed in the appendix to the report.  The Board acknowledged that community and organisational leaders were key to successful delivery in championing support, engaging with processes and developing the plan further.

Report of the Interim Director of Public Health outlining the Southampton Local Outbreak Community Engagement Plan.

The Board received and noted the report of the Director of Public Health detailing the Southampton Covid-19 Community Engagement Plan. National evidence from the first phase of the pandemic had shown that strong community engagement was crucial to preventing the spread of the infection and to manage local outbreaks.  Southampton had a strong community response to the first phase of the pandemic and a wide range of community assets were mobilised and enabled the City to respond successfully through a challenging time.

The Board noted that the plan had several objectives and it was important to listen and adjust messages accordingly to ensure that support was targeted to those who needed it.  A detailed action plan was in place to support delivery of the targets as detailed in the appendix to the report.

The Board encouraged feedback on the plan and acknowledged that this would be a live document updated regularly.  It was also the intention of the Board going forward to introduce a question and answer function to allow members of the public to raise questions.

The Board received and noted the report of the Director of Public Health providing a Covid-19 Situation Update.  It was noted that an infographic report was published by the Council on a weekly basis which summarised key information published by the Government, Public Health England and other agencies which could be used to monitor the pandemic both nationally and locally in Southampton.

The Board noted that latest information from regional test and trace meeting earlier in the day which looked at both national and regional data indicated that the spread of the virus was escalating nationally with 17m currently in a local lockdown situation.  London was close to being on a watch list, and it was noted that a watch list was where there was an incident rate of 20 per 1000 population in 7days. In relation to Southampton the incident rate remained relatively low, but it was noted that the periphery areas of London were seeing an increase which would mean a test scenario for Southampton which could see situations changing quickly.

Locally it was noted that there was a lot of intelligence data and a range of early warning indicators in place.  There had been an increase in both calls and on-line requests for the 111 helpline particularly relating to the younger population which was thought to be linked to schools, colleges and universities returning.

In terms of infections in the City there had been 1136 and the last 7 days had seen 36 which was the same as the previous 7 days.  Average cases per day was 5 but this was increasing gradually.  In relation to the under 65yrs age group more cases were being seen whilst the over 65yrs remained fairly flat however this was likely to increase over the winter months with more hospital admissions and poorer outcomes.

Rates of infection were also looked at against sizes of population, larger populations would see more infection, Southampton was at 12.62% as of the previous Friday which was similar to other comparator areas and way below others.  Positivity rates for Southampton were 1% which did fluctuate, however other areas were at 12.8% and 14%.  In the previous week there had been no admissions to hospital or cases diagnosed, the week before that there had been 10.  Mortality in the City was 168, 102 of which in hospital and the remainder in the community, primarily care homes.  It was noted the latest recorded death in the City was 14^th August.

The Board acknowledged and thanked the residents in the City who had been doing all they could to ensure the virus did not spread by following the rules and guidance.  The City now had 2 test and trace sites with a 3^rd being proposed which was increasing testing capacity across the City which was positive.