Agenda item

Lorraine Chamberlin & Anne Whittington will provide members with a verbal update at the meeting, report and presentation attached.

Health protection is an essential part of achieving and maintaining good public health. It involves planning, surveillance and response to incidents and outbreaks. Health protection prevents and reduces the harm caused by communicable diseases and minimises the health impact from environmental hazards such as chemicals and radiation. It also includes the delivery of major programmes such as national immunisation and screening programmes and the provision of health services to diagnose and treat infectious diseases.

Key areas of achievement:

·         MRSA bacteraemia infections were lower than national rates and there none were assigned to Bury CCG in 2016/17. 

·         Bury is performing well both regionally and nationally with regards to uptake of the flu vaccine

·         Uptake of other vaccines is also generally good, particularly for the childhood vaccinations of MMR and 5-in-1. 

·         Coverage of the cervical screening programme is above regional and national levels, which is good.

·         HIV late diagnosis has reduced significantly in recent years and is now below national levels.

·         Neighbourhood working embraced by assigning two Environmental Health officers to the trailblazer Radcliffe and Bury East Hubs

·         Digital mobile working introduced in Pest Control to be rolled out to all Environmental health services

·         87% of our Food businesses are broadly compliant and 68% have been awarded the highest Food Hygiene rating of 5 with only 5% having a rating of 2 or less

Recommendations for action:

·         Bury has not yet achieved the cervical screening 80% uptake target. We will continue to work with PHE and Bury CCG to increase uptake.

·         We need to develop a better understanding of our local TB prevalence and ensure prevention and treatment are optimised.

·         There have been issues with data collection for HIV diagnosis in women and this needs further exploration.

·         Environmental quality issues around fly tipping, accumulations and nuisance continue to dominate the reactive workload and a new Environmental Quality strategy is to be implemented.

·         Food hygiene inspections are increasingly being carried out by consultants as a result of job cuts within environmental health - there was a drop in total interventions in 2016 which has come to the attention of the Food Standards Agency for monitoring in 2017/18.  We will continue to monitor and manage the situation as effectively as possible within available resources.

Those present were invited to ask questions and the following issues were raised:

In response to a Member’s question the Head of Health and Environmental Protection reported that the Food Standards Agency is in the process of changing the regulatory system in respect of food hygiene ratings.  It is envisaged a system of self-regulation for those premises at low risk will be developed freeing up officer time to concentrate on premises that are deemed high risk. 

In respect of failure to meet air pollution targets, the Head of Health and Environmental Protection reported that the pollution results from the monitoring sites are not meaningful at the moment.  The solutions however will depend on members of the public using their cars less, future charging to enter the town but these solutions are not political palatable at the current time. 

In response to a Member’s question the Public Health Register reported that the national guidance would dictate who within the population receives cancer screening as well as other defined vaccinations. 

The Head of Health and Environmental Protection reported that the members of her team are in the process of putting together a pack for Councillors with regards to how to deal with fly tipping.  

Responding to a concern raised by the Chair in respect of the higher than average rates of Tuberculosis (TB) in the Borough, the Head of Health and Environmental Protection reported that the rates of TB in Greater Manchester are high, work is underway at a GM level to identify the reasons why.

In response to a Member’s question in respect of infection and prevention control audits within Care Homes; the Head of Health and Environmental Protection reported that her officers would work with other partner agencies including the Care Quality Commission and quality assurance staff within the Council to address these issues.

In response to a Member’s question, the Public Health Register reported that there are a number of reasons as to why parents do not vaccinate their children.  This could be due to chaotic lifestyles, allergies, worries about links to autism and religious reasons.

The Director of Public Health reported that the Annual Health and Environmental Protection Report highlights many areas of achievement within the Borough and provides recommendations for areas of focus that may be of interest to members of the Committee going forward.

        It was agreed:

1.               Lorraine Chamberlin Head of Health and Environmental Protection

A Whittington, Public Health Register be thanked for their attendance.

2.               The Head of Health and Environmental Protection would provide updated figures for members of the Committee in respect of the percentage of those premises that score a food hygiene rating of 3, 4, or 5.

3.               Recommendations contained within the Health and Environmental Protection report will be reviewed by the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in twelve months.