Agenda item

Mark Adams, Director of Public Heath (South Tees) will be in attendance to provide an update on COVID-19 and the local Public Health / NHS response.

 

The Chair welcomed the Joint Director for Public Health to the meeting and invited him to provide an update on the current Covid situation. During his presentation the Director made the following points:

 

·         Infection rates in northern parts of the South Tees were growing in a similar way to areas such as Newcastle.

·         The Teesside areas were experiencing lower rates than others in the North East, however rates were picking up in the North East generally.

·         The upward trajectory of infections showed slow growth in Middlesbrough, but it was unlikely this rate would remain slow and plateau. 

·         Infections for those in the 0-19 age group had risen but plateaued whereas those in the 20-39 year age group had continued to rise.

·         There was a clear impact of the vaccination programme given infection rates for those within the 60+ age group was much smaller.

·         While there was less concern regarding hospital activity for younger people there were concerns regarding “Long Covid” in this age category as this was not fully understood.

·         Previous trends had also shown that peaks starting in younger age groups worked their way through to older age groups, although the vaccination programme had slowed this.

·         Positivity rates were picking up, but were still quite low.

·         Infection rates were spread across the town with no specific area affected. However there was no need for surge testing at that point.

·         With regard to hospital statistics; there were currently 12 in-patients in South Tees which was a slight increase.

·         While these numbers were not causing immediate concern the numbers were being monitored.

·         James Cook Hospital was standing up activity that was lost during the Pandemic, so any increase to patient numbers due to Covid would impact on this further.

·         Northumberland had the highest vaccination rate nationally with 85.7%. This was reflected in other rural more affluent areas of the country. Middlesbrough and Newcastle were positioned at the bottom of the list for vaccinations as these areas were generally younger and had more problems with deprivation.

·         Middlesbrough had a single dose vaccination rate of 67.5%.

 

A Member queried if the information being presented was current and what was being done to redress Middlesbrough’s low vaccination rate. It was confirmed the information was up to the 21^st June 2021 and that various initiatives were being undertaken with Primary Care Networks to increase vaccine take-up, and to raise awareness of the vaccine. Examples included the Covid MELISSA Bus and moving to drop-in rather than booking models for distributing vaccines. 

 

It was noted that vaccine take-up numbers may not increase significantly initially as this was a longer-term strategy. Members were invited to suggest ideas to increase vaccine take-up.

 

A Member queried what messages could be transmitted across Social Media to increase awareness and dispel inaccurate information. It was clarified there were numerous initiatives being employed to communicate and promote the vaccination programme. This included the every concept counts approach whereby the message of vaccine take-up was transmitted to care givers who would be able to convince those in need of the vaccine better than distant officials.

 

A Member expressed concern that social distancing measures on local bus services, particularly with regard to school children, were not being adhered to as strictly as they previously were. It was confirmed that the Public Protection Service would be asked to look into this issue.

 

A Member queried how many vaccination pods were being used at the Riverside Stadium and if walk-in appointments would be possible. It was confirmed the number of pods had reduced from two to one but clarification was needed on the capacity of that pod.  It was also clarified that vaccination provision was provided through Newcastle Hospitals. Therefore having the Riverside as a drop-in center was not something the Council could influence but it could be pursued. It was also confirmed drop-in facilities were available for over 40s using the AstraZeneca vaccine, as there were spares available. However, this was not available for younger people as there were no spare Pfizer vaccines outside of the booking system.

 

The Chair stressed that social distancing measures were still in place and that people of all ages should continue to adhere to them to prevent further infection rates.

 

A Member queried that, due to the correlation between deprivation and lack of vaccine take-up, could other initiatives be used to target those communities more effectively. It was confirmed that a range of initiatives, such as the MELISSA bus were being explored to address this.

 

A Member queried if Community Hubs were being used as vaccination centers. It was clarified that vaccination centers were administered by the NHS had were required to offer an 8am to 8pm service seven days a week. It was clarified that Stockton Council were exploring using empty retail space for this purpose and its progress would be monitored.

 

A Member queried if improvement were planned for the NHS vaccination booking website as it was sometimes directing people to distant vaccination centers which were barriers to access. It was confirmed that greater understanding of how the website operated was required, as returning shortly after an initial search usually provided closer centers.

 

The Director continued with his presentation and made the following points:

 

·         Vaccination rates in over 50s stood at 91%.

·         However there were 4,758 over 50s that were not vaccinated with 2,800 over 50s with a single dose. It was for the former that caused most concern as they were more susceptible to the Delta Variant of the virus.

·         To encourage vaccination take-up GPs supplied names to Public Health who found approximately 33% of those names seemed to have a BAME background. It was clarified that a number of factors may have contributed to this statistic, such as language barriers, but further work was required to understand this fully.

 

ORDERED:

 

1. That the Public Protection Service work with local bus operators to ensure social distancing measures remain robust and

2. That the drop-in vaccination model at the Riverside be pursued.

3. That the information presented be noted.