Agenda item

The report of the Health Protection Board provides an overview of the progress made of the Health Protection System for 2023. This report provides the Board with an outline of the fifth report of the Leeds Health Protection Board since it was established in June 2014.

The report of the Health Protection (HP) Board provided an overview of the progress made of the Health Protection System for 2023. This report further provided the Board with an outline of the fifth report of the Leeds Health Protection Board since it was established in June 2014.

The following were in attendance for this item:

·  Dawn Bailey – Chief Officer, Public Health (Adults and Health)

·  Sharon Foster – Head of Public Health (Adults and Health)

The following information was provided to Members:

·  The Health Protection Board was a statutory duty under Public Health and dealt with response plans for infectious diseases, waste and environmental hazards and was centred around pandemic responses.

·  Emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, the service had been busy activating outbreak plans and was now engaged with developing further pandemic plans, protecting the city, region, and country from new and emerging diseases.

·  Within the health system, the HP Board held a leadership role for preparations and worked with partners to create robust plans for all eventualities.

·  With social care reform in 2014, health protection had become fragmented but through the work of the HP Board the service’s duties in Leeds were clear.

·  The HP Board was partnered with the UK Health Security Agency and was in a good position to roll out key preventative methods, such as community outbreak management and control.

·  Current outbreak risks were outlined as monkeypox, scabies and measles with recent activation plans developed.

·  Vaccinations for MMR, Covid-19 and flu were noted to have a fairly low uptake and were encouraged, particularly for more vulnerable people. There were 20 programmes being run in schools for MMR vaccines.

·  The role of the third sector was strong for connecting to the community and will to be involved in discussions at future HP Board meetings.

·  Recent achievements of the service were methods to improve and protect against air quality issues and adaptability methods for adverse weather to protect the vulnerable. Holistic Needs Assessments were being run for respiratory illness.

·  Infographics for protection from monkeypox, particularly focused towards children and their care providers had been produced.

·  The progress of the HP Board was outlined as, monitoring over 100 indicators, acceleration of partnership work, better practises for addressing tuberculosis, good outbreak management plans, anti-biotic resilience plans, and addressing air quality and climate change impacts.

·  Work for care provision and public health protection for asylum seekers was ongoing in regard to check ups and screening, with work focused in areas of deprivation and where people were most vulnerable.

The following matters were identified during discussions:

·  Members were struck by the scope of the HP Board’s work and appreciated the work on the increased threat of climate change and the impact on demand for services.

·  Members suggested it would be prudent for the Board to consider an item on preparedness for outbreaks and the impact of climate change at a future meeting.

·  Methods for better leadership as a city were focused on connectivity and travel to understand how and where we are living and how it affects health and the implications it can have on wider communities.

·  Prevention and proactiveness allowed a better approach to predict where an outbreak may occur and was understood to be heavily impacted by inequality, with housing quality and the potential for overcrowding worsened.

·  Scabies outbreaks were challenging and often appeared due to living conditions.

·  The uptake for the new alarm system, sent to people’s phones, for air quality issues was continuing to be progressed with clinicians engaged and with greater promotion.

·

RESOLVED –

a)  That the progress made on the Health Protection Board priorities as outlined in the Leeds Health Protection Board 2022, be noted.

b)  That the case studies highlighting the approach to managing significant infectious disease outbreaks in the city, be noted.

c)  That the key achievements, and targets for 2024, setting out recommended actions for the next 12 months, be noted.

d)  That comments on how the HWB can support the new emerging health protection priorities in relation to underserved populations, particularly those living in the most deprived 10% parts of the city, be noted.