Agenda and minutes

Resolved – That Councillor David Renard be Chair of the Board for the Municipal Year, 2020/21.

(Councillor Renard took the Chair.)

Resolved – That Amanda Webb (Clinical Commissioning Group) be Vice-Chair of the Board for the Municipal Year, 2020/21.

The Chair reminded Members of the need to declare any known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting.  No declarations were made.

Please refer to the explanatory notes below.

No public questions were received during the meeting.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th March 2020.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 11^th March 2020, be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

(Report to follow)

The Board considered a report of the Council’s Director of Public Health setting out a draft of the Local Outbreak Management Plan (LOMP) for Swindon in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.  In presenting the report Steve Maddern (Director of Public Health) drew Members’ attention to the following information:

·         The Local Outbreak Management Plan was the Council’s response to the Government’s request on 22^nd May 2020 that all Councils produce individual Covid-19 Outbreak Management Plans by the end of June 2020. These would receive Government funding.

·         The Good Practice Network had been established by 11 beacon sites across England which were pathfinders receiving additional support to develop their plans and which were working to develop good practice which would be shared more broadly within their region. 

·         In the southwest Councils were confident that their plans were fit for purpose and flexible enough to adapt to new information and circumstances.

·         The plan was strategic with operational plans sitting underneath it which were being further developed. These plans were co-ordinated with partner organisations.

·         The National Advisory Panel co-ordinated work between the Good Practice Network and the government, including a formal framework which set out principles, described decision making responsibilities and outlining practical actions to be taken in the case of an outbreak.

·         Local Outbreak Management Plans would be a key element of the NHS Test and Trace system operating on core principles of
i) rapid testing,
ii) integrated tracing to identify, alert and support those needing to self-isolate,
iii) the containment of local outbreaks using testing and other data, and iv) the use of data and information to inform decisions relating to social and economic restrictions to support public engagement and build public trust and participation.

·         That Local Outbreak Control plans centred on 7 themes namely:

1)     The prevention and management of outbreaks in specific settings such as schools and care homes.

2)    The prevention and management of outbreaks in other high risk settings such as workplaces and high-risk communities.

3)    The deployment and optimising of local rapid testing capacity.

4)    The delivery of contact tracing in complex settings and cohorts.

5)      Access to relevant and correct data for the delivery of the themes and in preventing outbreaks.

6)     The support of vulnerable people and the delivery of appropriate services meeting the needs of diverse communities.

7)     Local action to contain outbreaks and to communicate with the local populace.

·         The governance of the Local Outbreak Management Plan by the Director of Public Health through the Council’s Gold Command Group, the Covid-19 Health Protection Board and the Health and Wellbeing Board.

·         Future work under the Local Outbreak Management Plan, including
i) the creation of a multi-agency COVID-19 Health Protection Board,
ii) the development of operational action card which would cover a number of scenarios for local use in respect of local management in the event of a local outbreak,
iii) practitioner training in outbreak management across partner organisations,
iv) the rapid deployment of testing capacity,
v) prevention activities including the communication  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.