Agenda and minutes

To note the following membership and terms of reference:-

21 members

Chair: B. Flux

Vice Chair: G. Syers

NCC Business Chair

Council Leader

Portfolio Holder Adult wellbeing and health

Portfolio Holder Children’s Services

Portfolio Holder Healthy Lives

Labour representative

Executive Director Children’s Services and Education

Executive Director of Commercial, Economy and Regeneration

Director of Public Health

NHS Northumberland CCG (x2 representatives)

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (x1 rep)

Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (x1 rep)

Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust (x1 rep)

North East Ambulance Service (to be invited) (x1 rep)

NHS England (x1 rep)

Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Organisations (x1 rep)

Healthwatch (x1 rep)         

Local Medical Committee (x1 rep)

Local Pharmaceutical Committee (x1 rep)

Children’s and Adults Safeguarding Board (x1 rep)

Terms of reference.

Statutory functions

(1)    To encourage all health and care organisations which operate within Northumberland to work together in an integrated manner.

(2)    To provide all appropriate advice, assistance and support to encourage the development of formal partnership arrangements between social care and health services, making use of the powers provided by Section 75 of the NHS Act 2006.

(3)    To produce and maintain the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) for Northumberland, covering all needs which either fall within the responsibilities of health commissioners, but could alternatively be met or significantly affected by local authority functions or vice versa.

(4)    To produce a joint health and wellbeing strategy (JHWS) for Northumberland, on behalf of the Council and NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group.

(5)    To ensure that Healthwatch Northumberland and the people who live and work in Northumberland are involved in the production of the JSNA and the JHWS.

(6)    To maintain and update Northumberland’s Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment.

(7)    To respond to any pharmacy contract consolidation request submitted to NHS England within the statutory timeframe.

(8)    to consider the Northumberland County Council’s COVID 19 Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan.

Development and Improvement Functions

(9)    To improve democratic accountability for health and wellbeing decision making.

(10)  To provide a focus for Health and Wellbeing Board partners and total public sector commitment to improving population wellbeing and health outcomes. 

(11)  To ensure that communities and service users are involved in determining needs and in designing, developing and delivering services.

(12)  To monitor and report progress within the priorities identified within the JHWS and to hold partners to account including the ICS, ICP and System Transformation Board.  This may be done through Joint Health and Wellbeing Boards across the ICP footprint.

(13)  To advise all partners and stakeholders on steps that they could take to reduce health inequalities within Northumberland and between Northumberland and England as a whole

(14)  To promote broader integration and partnership working between the NHS, LA, other public sector organisations and the VCSE.

(15)  Any other functions that may be delegated by the Council under section 196 (2) of  ...  view the full agenda text for item 1.

The Membership and Terms of Reference had been circulated for information.

The Chair welcomed the new Members and invited all members and officers to introduce themselves.

RESOLVED that the Health and Well-Being Board’s membership and terms of reference, be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from J. Lothian, J. Mackey, P. Mead, C. McEvoy-Carr, R. O’Farrell, G. Renner Thompson, E. Simpson, G. Syers, and J. Warrington.

Minutes of the meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on Thursday, 11 March 2021 and 8 April 2021 as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair. 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the following meetings of the Health and Well-being Board, as circulated, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair:

a)   11 March 2021

b)   8 April 2021

To receive the Council’s updated COVID 19 Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan.

Members received a report presenting the Council’s updated COVID-19 Outbreak Prevention and Control (copy enclosed with the signed minutes).

Liz Morgan, Director of Public Health, explained the roles of the Health and Well-Being Board which were to:

·                Provide assurance that the Plan was fit for purpose

·                Ensure that the plan was being delivered through the work of the Health Protection Board which met weekly.

·                To ensure internal incident response processes were operating as they should be.

The revised plan builds and updates on key themes contained in the original plan and added additional plans and issues which had arisen since the plan had last been published in June 2020.  New areas included:

·                Responding to new variants of concern

·                Enhanced contact tracing

·                Non pharmaceutical interventions

·                Role in supporting vaccination

·                Responding to variants of concern and surge testing, if required.

She commented on the excellent cross border control models and management arrangements; the effective and award-winning communications campaign; development of a comprehensive surveillance mechanism; the Northumberland local tracing partnership; and management of community outbreaks.  These functions had previously been undertaken by the regional health protection team.

The plan would need to be updated following changes anticipated on 19 July to reflect the revised approach.

The following information was provided in answer to questions:

·                A measured and pragmatic approach was now required to allow the economy to open up however there remained a pool of people who were unvaccinated and there were new variants of the disease which could emerge in this group.  The non-pharmaceutical interventions such as good ventilation, hand washing, face coverings and social distancing had worked well to prevent transmission and it was recommended that they be continued as part of everyone’s daily lives.  As an employer, the Local Authority had not determined its approach to changes proposed after 19 July 2021, and whether it would recommend car sharing, however health and safety legislation required staff to be kept safe.  There was to be a shift between interventions laid down in legislation to personal responsibility and individuals own risk assessment of what they deemed appropriate for a situation.

·                It was not intended that a separate document be produced for seasonal flu; the principles within the Covid 19 Outbreak and Control Plan would be effective for flu and the normal winter processes.

·                The Council would be feeding into a national inquiry which was about to commence to review actions during the pandemic.  At a suitable time, the Council would also reflect on what had worked well and areas which could be improved as it would inform the pandemic flu plan.

·                Communications messages, to resonate with the local population, would be extremely challenging following the changes due to be implemented after 19 July.

RESOLVED that:

(1)           The contents of the updated COVID 19 Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan and the ongoing approach to COVID 19 prevention and control, be noted.

(2)           The COVID-19 Outbreak Prevention and Control Plan, be endorsed.

An update will be provided at the meeting on the epidemiology of COVID 19 in Northumberland.

Members were provided with an update on the epidemiology of COVID 19 in Northumberland.  (A copy of the presentation has been filed with the signed minutes).

Liz Morgan, Director of Public Health, updated Members on the latest figures and actions agreed in response to the increasing rates of infection being seen in Northumberland.  The presentation included the following:

·            Positive test results were increasing in all regions but were highest in the North East.

·            Northumberland had the lowest number of positive cases (428.1) as a 7-day rate per 100,000 population out of the local authorities in the LA7 region.

·            Up to half of people testing positive in Northumberland were experiencing no symptoms.

·            The prevalence of infection in the community (individuals participating in the ONS Coronavirus Infection Survey) had increased from 1 in 520 to 1 in 180 people for the week ending 26 June 2021 compared to 2 weeks earlier.  Rates were highest in 16-24year-olds.

·            The number of new confirmed positive cases for 29 June – 5 July (1,371) was higher than the previous peak in January 2021, 60% of which related to those under 30 years old.  1 in 9 PCR tests were positive.

·            The number of positive cases tended to be lower in rural communities.

·            Rates in ages groups under 24 years old were over 1,700 per 100,000 population.  There were more modest increases in the over 60’s which was attributed to the success of the vaccination programme.

·            There were increasing cases in care homes and the care sector, but these largely related to staff and were still relatively small numbers.

·            Increasing cases were being seen in schools; this was a huge disruption to children’s education and the resilience of schools and their ability to provide education.  Nearly 3,000 children and staff were either positive cases or self-isolating due to being close contacts.

·            The Public Protection team was dealing with an increasing number of complaints about premises failing to apply controls, mainly during football matches at hospitality venues.

·            There were 23 incidents of multiple outbreaks in workplace settings resulting in a shift in focus from proactive work to outbreak control.

·            There was no correlation this time between hospital admissions and case detection rates, unlike the position in January.  Individuals were less unwell and spending less time in hospital although there had been a spike over recent days.

·            Management of staff absence was an issue for all organisations including the NHS, 20% was attributable to covid nationally although in the North East this was as high as a third.

·            Step 4 and the lifting of restrictions shifted control measures from those being enshrined in legislation to guidance and individuals making informed choices how preventative measures should be applied.

·            Individuals would still legally be required to self-isolate at home if they tested positive for Covid 19.

·            Revised proposals were in place for close contacts from 16 August for those that were post 2 weeks from receiving second vaccination and under 18-year olds.  Guidance for schools had been released by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A verbal update on communications and engagement will be provided at the meeting.

Liz Morgan, Director of Public Health, gave a brief update on the communication campaigns that were being undertaken by the local authority which included national campaigns as well as promotion of local messages particularly in regard to vaccination and use of NHS services.  At the current time these were targeted on increasing case rates and in response to outbreaks.

Reference was made to the Beat Covid NE, an award winning and successful campaign.  This currently focused on improving vaccination confidence and keeping the North East open.

A more tailored approach to communications with communities was to be adopted, as recommended by the Chief Medical Officer.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

To note/discuss details of forthcoming agenda items at future meetings; the latest version is enclosed.

Clarification was provided regarding changes to the Terms of Reference.  It was agreed that it was important to review the Board’s activity which needed to be balanced against its responsibility to provide assurance on the outbreak control plan and how it was delivered.

Pam Travers, CNTW, requested that references to NTW be amended to CNTW and that she replace Russell Patton as the officer responsible.

RESOLVED that:

a)             The forward plan be noted.

b)             Development session(s) be reintroduced for the benefit of new members.

c)             Health and Well-being strategy be refreshed, at an appropriate time.

d)             A presentation be given to explain how Place fit within the integrated care system when there was certainty at national level.

Forthcoming Meeting Dates at 10.00 a.m.

9 September 2021

14 October 2021

11 November 2021

9 December 2021

13 January 2022

10 February 2022

10 February 2022

14 April 2022

12 May 2022    

RESOLVED that the next meeting of the Health and Well-being Board be held on 9 September 2021 at 10.00 a.m.