Issue - meetings

Sean Murphy provided an update on the Public Protection Partnership.

West Berkshire contact tracing service:

·       Referred 44 cases, successful in contacting 22 individuals. These were 22 that the national system would have missed.

Councillor Macro asked why the service did not run into the evening.

Sean Murphy stated that this would start soon and was currently running 7 days per week.

Councillor Doherty noted that those who were contacted had already been informed of their positive case so should be at home isolating.

Sean Murphy stated that compliance visits to businesses to make sure they were complying with the restrictions were on-going. He noted that the next stage was to continue with the contact tracing service and to continue to work with businesses around the changes post-lockdown.

Councillor Doherty asked what the route was if residents were concerned about compliance.

Sean Murphy stated that the best way was to phone or contact via the West Berkshire Council Public Protection Partnership website.  

Sean Murphy provided an update on the new local contact tracing system. He noted that that the new local contact tracing service began on the 5^th of November and that PHE rated West Berkshire highly in its ability to deliver the service. He stated that it did not replace national scheme, complements it and that the service would look at cases that had not been traced by the national scheme in the first 24 hours. He stated that the service had been set up by the public health team and was managed by the Public Protection team. He noted that 30 officers had been trained to manage the service, which would operate on a rota.

Phase 1- currently in

·       Phone calls to contacts, including voicemails

·       Follow up email if welfare support needed

·       Operating between the hours of 9am- 4:30/5pm, 7 days per week.  

How does the service work?

·       Case details securely downloaded from national test and trace system

·       Team leader allocates cases/ households to a call handler

·       Call handler calls the resident and advises the importance of self-isolation and then completes contact tracing.

·       Call handler offers signposts to welfare support

·       Information then uploaded to national test and trace system

Benefits from LCT

·       Calls from a local number

·       Able to signpost individuals to welfare support

Action: Sean Murphy to provide a further update on contact tracing in a few weeks.

Councillor Vickers asked if the 30 staff managing contact tracing were Council staff.

Sean Murphy stated they were existing staff from different departments of the Council who worked on a rota.

Councillor Doherty asked how the phone calls would identify themselves.

Sean Murphy stated that the 01635 number showed when being called and that those contacted were also sent a confirmation email.

Councillor Masters asked if the national system provided any reasoning behind those who did not comply.

Sean Murphy stated that some people were not contactable, which may be a reluctance to answer unknown numbers. He also said that some people have shown a desire not to be contacted or share contact information. He stated that there were no numbers locally on non-compliance.