Council and councillors

To receive Report No.97/2019 from the Director of Public Health.

Report No.97/2019 was received from the Director of Public Health.   Dr Kath Packham introduced the report the purpose of which was to provide a summary of the assurance functions of the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland (LLR) Health Protection Assurance Board. It also updated the Health and Wellbeing Board on Health Protection performance, key incidents and risks and other significant matters considered in the past year that have emerged from January 2018 to December 2018.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         The Local Authority did not commission the majority of services which contributed to protecting the health of the population.

·         There was a lower prevalence of chlamydia in Rutland but also lower screening rates. Those most at risk from preventable diseases needed to be targeted so that resources were used most effectively.

·         The coverage for the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine was below what was needed to get ‘herd’ immunity so that there was protection when there was an outbreak. Protection was for those who were not vaccinated because of medical reasons of for those where it had been because of parental choice.

·         Officers would ask the NHS team to supply the Board with the numbers for those not vaccinated as it appeared that there were still many parents who chose not to vaccinate their children. Italy was cited as a country where children could not attend school if they had not been vaccinated.

·         Making Every Contact Count plus was about reinforcing the message at every contact made with the patient.

·         Public Health were about to embark on a refresh of the sexual health strategy. No evidence had been found to suggest a disproportionate amount of sexual health issues in the military population.

·         Tuberculosis vaccines (TB) were not routinely given unless there were areas of the country eg. Leicester, where there had been a high incidence of the disease.

·         Members felt that behaviour change was the bigger challenge, rather than the building of infrastructure, when trying to get more people to walk and cycle in an effort to improve air quality.

·         The Local Transport Plan would look at combating ‘idling’ or waiting cars, as they greatly added to air pollution.

AGREED:

The Board NOTED:

1.    The specific health protection issues that had arisen locally and the steps taken to deal with them.

2.    The focus for particular areas of work in the coming year.