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 Director of Public Health (South Tees) provided the Panel with an update on the ongoing response to Covid-19 and the shift to living with Covid-19.

The Panel was advised that infection rates stood at 579 per 100,000. Members were also advised testing availability was decreasing and this would likely result in a significant drop in reported infections. However, it was noted that national infection rates remained high.

It was also noted the numbers of inpatients in the Trust’s hospitals remained low with analysis showing those that were ill with Covid-19 were less ill than in previous waves.

Members were advised of the Government’s living with Covid-19 initiative. This included the removal of testing for students and the removal of the legal requirement to isolate. However, it was noted that guidance advised individuals with Covid-19 should continue to isolate.

Living with Covid-19 had also seen the end of Covid-19 support payments and the removal for Covid-19 to be a specific requirement on sick certifications. While there were more symptoms associated with Covid-19 there was now a move to manage these within the umbrella of other respiratory problems.

While it was much reduced, the testing regime was now focused on test to care i.e. patients in hospital; test to treat i.e. testing high risk groups in the community and test protect i.e. testing those living in high risk environments such as care homes.

In terms of local understanding there was less intelligence about infection trends due to the reduction in testing regimes. However, there was still some local intelligence with regards to vaccination rates.

While some centres were closing, such as the Riverside, Public Health teams were exploring what pop-up vaccination sites could deliver to communities. However, it was also noted that Covid-19 outbreaks could not be as easily predicted and would have to be dealt with as and when they occurred. It was also noted that, despite best efforts, local messaging of exercising caution was less effective compared to national messaging. 

A Member queried if there were any statistics on Long Covid and what its impact on communities was. It was clarified that statistics could be presented but that Long Covid was somewhat indistinct and therefore difficult to quantify.

A Member commented the impact of living with Covid could have a detrimental impact on deprived communities and that extra funding should be made available to alleviate any potential difficulties.

A Member queried that, due to a reduced testing, would any advice or assistance be available to those environments that suffered a Covid-19 outbreak. It was clarified assistance would be provided through the regional health protection team who, along with the UK Health Security Agency, would still be providing supporting to high risk communities such as care homes.

Members were advised that local messaging would continue to advise people to be cautious and encourage them to get vaccinated.

The Director of Commissioning Strategy and Delivery for the Tees Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (TVCCG) advised the Panel that despite the Pandemic acute services at James Cook University Hospital continued to deliver and maintain a full elective outpatient programme which had helped to reduce long waiting times.

The Panel were also advised that there was significant community infection rates which was also affecting NHS staff.

The Panel expressed their thanks to both NHS and Public Health Staff.

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