Agenda item

1.            Mrs C Bell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, gave a verbal update on the following issues:-

Launch of “Beside You” online resource for infant feeding – this was a service delivered by Kent and Medway in partnership with the midwifery service, PSB Breastfeeding and the La Leche League, aiming to support mothers who wished to breastfeed for as long as possible, and to raise awareness of issues around breastfeeding in public. The project would seek to make optimum use of social media. 

Attendance at Public Health Commissioning Team meeting – this covered campaign work and monitoring of the effectiveness of past work. The main area of investment was with the Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), with whom the County Council had several large contracts totalling some £37.5m.  The inclusion of young people in the commissioning team was encouraging to see as good healthy habits were best established when young and young people could encourage their peers. The visit had also included a session on postural stability, which had been most interesting. 

Public Health campaigns – good communications were vital to achieving effective campaigning, and social media was used extensively. National guidance on how to deal with the Coronavirus would be shared with all Members, so they in turn could share it with their local communities.

Public Health champions – those who championed public health issues in their local communities were celebrated and had been presented with certificates to thank them for their work in spreading positive health messages and encouraging others to take responsibility for their own health. Mrs Bell recorded her thanks to the county council staff who had taken part in this initiative. 

2.            Mr A Scott-Clark, Director of Public Health, then gave a verbal update on the following issues:- 

Public Health Budget 2020/2021 – he had expected to be able to report this by now but the figure had yet to be announced by the Government. It was hoped that this would become clear in the budget announcement on 11 March. Providers had been advised that, to ensure continuity of service provision, the previous year’s budget arrangements would be rolled over until the new budget was known.   

Kent Association of Local Councils Health and Wellbeing Conference – this event had demonstrated that there was much energy and enthusiasm among parish and town councils to support health and wellbeing issues and to work with the County Council to deliver initiatives. It had been suggested that the Kent Association of Local Councils could have a seat on the Health and Wellbeing Board.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) – on 2 March he had written, setting out the latest public health advice on coronavirus, to all County Council Members, to district and parish councils, via the Kent Association of Local Councils, and to Kent MPs. Guidance and information to the public was changing daily, to reflect the unfolding situation as cases of coronavirus were confirmed; as the future spread was unknown, a dynamic response needed to be ready to be deployed when required.  However, there had been no new cases of coronavirus reported in Kent since 2 March. Public Health England (PHE) was the lead agency in terms of containment. The latest PHE advice was that people showing symptoms of coronavirus should self-isolate and ring 111 for advice, which would trigger the testing process. PHE’s advice to protect oneself from contracting the virus was to wash hands frequently with soap and warm water for a minimum of 20 seconds and to be ready to self-isolate, if this should prove necessary, by building up supplies of food and daily requisites. The Government would be liaising with supermarkets about managing supplies of basic groceries and household essentials and advising the public about using the NHS wisely to avoid overloading, as hospitals were still experiencing the usual winter pressures. Local resilience plans were being tested to ensure they would work, if needed, and County Council directorates were working together to ensure that business continuity plans were in place. Although the worse-case scenario could see up to 20% of County Council staff being unable to work, he emphasised that the majority of people contracting the virus would experience only mild symptoms for a few days and should be able to continue work from home. Directors of Public Health (DPHs) across the UK were in daily contact with the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and the NHS.

3.                  Mr Scott-Clark then responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-

a)      although the UK was currently still in the containment stage, the next stage - delay - was expected to start soon;

b)      asked with what authority or permission people would self-isolate, and their eligibility for sick pay for missed work during self-isolation, Mr Scott-Clark explained that employers were being advised to take a pragmatic approach.  For those self-employed and on zero-hours contracts, the Government was expected to advise shortly on eligibility for statutory sick pay. This could be a big issue for those employed in the social care sector.  DPHs had flagged this issue with the CMO to look into;

c)      asked about the difference between the containment and delay stages, Mr Scott-Clark advised that there was not much difference.  Only those who had had close contact with someone with the virus were currently being recommended to self-isolate. Mitigation measures would not assume that a person had been tested for the virus, unless they were already in hospital with a pre-existing condition. Current advice was for people to self-isolate as soon as they felt unwell. Some people being tested were found just to have flu, and spotter practices were testing flu cases for signs of coronavirus.  Asked to clarify if people with flu-like symptoms should self-isolate, Mr Scott-Clark confirmed that this should happen as a matter of course. Although this advice had not been issued officially among current Government guidance, he expressed the view that it should be;     

d)      asked what checks would be made on vehicles coming into the county from mainland Europe, Mr Scott-Clark advised that PHE were working with ports and airports to apply testing for the virus to people entering the country, particularly if they had travelled from an infected area;

e)      asked if random double-testing would be used to check an earlier result, in case someone who believed they were clear resumed normal activity and spread the virus to others, Mr Scott-Clark advised that the CMO had been asked on 5 March to advise on this. Work was going ahead to identify a vaccine and treatment but this could take up to 18 months to develop, and would then need to be tested and licensed before being safe for use;

f)       asked about patients in hospital with pre-existing conditions, who were most vulnerable to contracting the virus, Mr Scott-Clark advised that hospitals were practiced at avoiding cross-contamination and had clear strategies to manage this.  Some cohorts of patients, for example, older people, would need hospital care for specialist support. Some hospitals were offering ‘drive-through’ swabbing, which would swab people without them having to leave their cars, and they could then drive home to self-isolate.  A swabbing service could visit those who were housebound;

g)      asked about herd immunity for the virus, Mr Scott-Clark advised that the herd immunity threshold for this virus would be very high, approximately 95 - 100%; and

h)      asked about the possible contribution of hot-air hand driers in public toilets to spreading the virus, as they were known to recycle air, Mr Scott-Clark advised that the best way to protect against catching the virus from public facilities was to wash hands thoroughly with warm water and soap for a minimum of 20 seconds.  Soap and warm water were more effective than hand sanitiser gel in killing the virus.

4.                  The Cabinet Member, Mrs C Bell, added that online resources available were helpful in raising awareness and understanding of the virus and how the public could protect themselves, meetings between DOPHs and the NHS would explore the long-term plan to manage and address the spread of the virus, advice about the importance of handwashing was clear and easy to follow, and work to manage and address the current pandemic would raise the profile and awareness of the general prevention agenda.

5.                  It was RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted, with thanks.

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