Agenda item

The Board considered a presentation from Sean Murphy and Mary Massey concerning Local Contact Tracing (Agenda Item 6).  Key points from the presentation were as follows:

·         Contract tracing was part of the wider Public Protection Partnership (PPP) response to the pandemic as set out in the Local Outbreak Control Plan.

·         West Berkshire became an NHS Test and Trace Partner in November 2020 and was an early adopter of the system.

·         A 7-day service was provided by 36 West Berkshire staff.

·         The service was managed by the Environmental Health Team, with additional staff at weekends.

·         Each shift had a ‘Super User’ who accessed data from the national system and checked that people had not already been contacted.

·         The ‘Super User’ also monitored the outbreak notification system for workplaces, care homes, schools and other settings.

·         The ‘Super User’ was supported by up to four contact tracers.

·         All staff had received comprehensive training.

·         Staff had epidemiological / clinical / commissioning / Covid secure compliance and regulatory experience.

·         Key skills were communication, interpersonal skills and attention to detail.

·         Staff were used to working with residents in difficult / stressful situations.

·         As of 21 April, 479 ‘difficult to contact’ cases had been transferred to the local service - 75 percent of these had been successfully contacted, with full contact tracing for 71 percent.

·         Cases received self-isolation advice and ongoing NHS contact.

·         Contacts could be eligible for financial / non-financial support to assist with isolation.

·         The local centre benefitted from: having a local dialling code; local knowledge about communities and places; signposting to local authority support; local intelligence to help minimise onward spread; delivery of duty of care and safeguarding of vulnerable people; and helping to inform preparations for surge testing.

·         The service would be moving to a new NHS Test and Trace platform, which would require training for staff.

·         Under the new system, the Local Contract Tracing service would be able to draw any case from the national database that matched local priorities.

·         There had been no significant increase in cases due to easing of lockdown restrictions, but this might change with the move to the next stage in the Covid-19 Roadmap, and increases may occur due to quarantining arrivals and social gatherings in informal settings.

The Chairman asked how the local contact tracing system would link to surge testing for new variants. Mary Massey explained that the PPP had oversight and involvement in a recent surge testing preparation exercise. The PPP had also contributed to policy preparation. She confirmed that variants of concern would be a key priority under the new system since it was important for these cases to fully observe self-isolation, keeping them out of workplaces and other high-risk settings and minimising community transmission.

Councillor Lynne Doherty expressed her thanks to members of the Contract Tracing Team, who were often doing this in addition to their day jobs. She noted that the national system currently passed down cases where they had been unable to make contact and asked if this would still happen under the new system. Mary Massey confirmed that it would. She stated that the new system would allow the local authority to see all cases in West Berkshire and priorities would be determined in consultation with the Public Health Team. She indicated that data would be provided on common exposure locations, including locations visited by people before their symptoms appeared and prior to them being testing, where transmission may have taken place.

Councillor Alan Macro asked if cases would still be contacted by the national system even where the local system had already made contact. Mary Massey confirmed that once a case was in the local system, the national system would only make contact for welfare checks. This was built into the national system and could not be over-ridden.