Agenda item

(a)   To approve as an accurate record and the Chair to sign the minutes of the meeting of the Health & Wellbeing Board held on 24 March 2021; and

(b)   To note the outstanding actions.

A minor correction to the minutes was noted, where a resident attendee was recorded twice. 

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 March 2021 were agreed as an accurate record.

Matters Arising – Vaccination Update

Linda Jackson provided the Board with an update about the progress of vaccinations in the borough which recorded the lowest uptake across the borough within North West London. A successful vaccination event at Chelsea Football Club, ‘Super Saturday’ had administered 6200 vaccinations with 45% of those being residents of the borough.  There had been a positive response to pop up sites on local estates primarily using the AstraZeneca vaccine due to storage requirements. The Novotel site delivered Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines but not all the slots had been fully utilised. Weekly meetings continued with CCG colleagues and discussed plans for example to increase the number of pharmacists approved to administer vaccines.  This was also an issue being followed up with the strategic North West London Board.

Sue Roostan continued that they were keen to mirror pop up events and a five week plan was in place leading up to 19 July.  The Borough Vaccination Plan was a joint team effort between the local authority, CCG, GPs, and primary care and remained a live and iterative document.  The latest pop up had been more successful than previously, and another Super Saturday was arranged for 17 July.

Jane Wilmot asked if engagement with community groups had been co-produced to improve uptake and in addition, also asked about vaccines being administered to school children. Linda Jackson confirmed that there had been community engagement, but that this had not been co-produced, by H&F definition.  Community engagement resident groups and work with community champions had informed and influenced the borough’s approach.  There was now a sense that people felt that it was time to focus on delivering the vaccine and allow people to make their own, informed decisions about vaccination.

Jane Wilmot referenced the virtual Co-production Huddle workshops facilitated by Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust. There had been a recommendation to support GP practices with conversations about co-production and how they could provide better support. Sue Roostan stated that advice had been provided to GP practices.  In response to the question about vaccinating children the Department of Health had not issued approval for this to date. Delivery of the vaccine continued to align with Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) national eligibility criteria.

There had been huge challenges in gaining approval from National Health Service England (NHSE) for pop up sites and H&F were behind many other boroughs in North West London (NWL). The Board was assured that that health colleagues were working hard to lobby NHSE to support residents and NHS workers of the borough. 

Sue Spiller observed that efforts to co-produce had been hindered by a huge reluctance by groups to be seen to be advocating for vaccination, given the level of reluctance within communities. DI Luxan Thurairatnasingam commented that a lower vaccination rate could be contributed to the high number of unregistered foreign nationals in inner city clusters although this was mitigated by not needing an NHS number for vaccination. Kim Smith endorsed the view that the council and CCG had attempted to engage with voluntary and community groups building on existing networks. Despite continued work in partnership, which was welcomed, having quarantine hotels in a small, densely populated, inner city borough had meant a lack of control over some factors which presented heightened risks.

Huge success had been achieved with mobile vaccine buses going into local housing estates, supported by preparation and Community Aid Network (CAN) volunteers. In addition, the diversity of the clinical and administrative teams ensured excellent representation which had been welcomed by residents.  The arrival of the bus prompted positive interest and responses in targeted areas where take up was known to be low.  Linda Jackson reported that some of those that might have been undecided about the vaccination had cautiously observed the arrival of the bus and then resolved to be vaccinated. The bus had forged a positive and invaluable connection with communities.

Councillor Coleman commented that the borough appeared to be regarded as less of a priority than other boroughs and had received poor support from the Home Office with regards to quarantine hotels.  This was a resource that needed to work strategically within a robust testing regime and was only successful due to the intervention of the Director of Public Health, Dr Nicola Lang and the borough’s infection control team mitigating the inadequate response of Whitehall and the NHS nationally.

 Councillor Coleman enquired about preparations for flu vaccinations, if a bus could be used, and could this be done at the same time as Covid vaccination. Janet Cree explained that preparation for flu vaccination would begin in September, but no information was available yet regarding the sequencing or order of vaccinations nor about booster vaccinations.  It was noted that there had been improved vaccine uptake within the population by groups who were at risk of flu and that the option of using buses would be further explored.

Councillor Coleman commended officers and colleagues across the three boroughs who had worked tirelessly with health colleagues to deliver Super Saturday. He particularly recognised Chelsea Football Club and thanked them for their tremendous and invaluable support of this work, for the benefit of H&F residents. 

ACTIONS: The Chair to write to the Secretary of State for the Home Office to set out the boroughs concerns regarding quarantine hotels; and that flu vaccination be included as a business item on the Board’s September Agenda