Key messages from the C&M Health and Care Partnership Prevention Board – May 2020

Below are the key messages from the Prevention Board meeting on 27^th May:

1. Priorities going forwards – Eileen O’ Meara and Jon Develing have had various conversations and meetings to establish what prevention priorities need to be worked on going forwards as we live with COVID-19. CVD, alcohol harm, mental health, violence, infection control (which coincides with AMR) all still appear to be the top priorities. It was raised that there could be risk of flu outbreaks occurring at the same time as future COVID-19 peaks. A meeting with Alan Yates (HCP Executive Chair), to discuss priority plans for living with COVID-19.
2. Personalised Care Update– Elspeth Anwar reported that NHSE still want to work with C&M on the personalised care project. They have given £263k funding to upscale and deliver personalised care. The plan has been revised to re-shape personalised care to build on positives from COVID-19 – e.g. social prescribers, voluntary sector etc. However, it will still largely build on work that was already being done.
3. Blood Pressure/ CVD Update – Mel Roche gave an update on blood pressure which has now been enveloped into wider CVD work. There is a revised plan of action in line with COVID-19 for a period of 12-18 months. The Happy Hearts website has a new COVID-19 section with resources from various organisations, brought together for professionals and the public. This will launch at the end of this week (29/05/20) and will later be followed by a paid for Facebook campaign, addressing inequalities. CVD prevention in primary care will then be addressed next.
4. Alcohol Harm Update – Ravi Menghani said that work is continuing with the competencies workstream, a programme team has been set up and there is a plan for the rest of the year. The expectation is to have an interim report in the next few months. Fibroscans have been paused and there is ongoing background work looking at how service provision has changed during COVID-19 and what would be useful to keep as we live with COVID.
5. AMR update – Lucia Scally updated that the specialist team was paused (April to June 2020) and that there is enough funding for a further 3 months (potentially July to September 2020) as we move on to living with COVID-19. Some areas of work have been paused including pilot testing the virtual learning scenarios, and face to face awareness training. Contact has been made with the CSU to explore possible reporting arrangements for both individual prescribers of antibiotics, and the use of backup antibiotic scripts. An app for hosting the single formulary for adults is also being explored.
6. Physical Activity Update – Roger Elliott & Hayley Preece from Active Cheshire reported that the first Physical Activity sub-group meeting has been held virtually and was well attended. TOR were signed off and the group looked at approaches for strategy development, agreeing on a fluid framework that drives towards specific aims and goals. They considered multiple themes – active travel, mental health, early years and active workplaces.
7. Mental Health Update – Pat Nicholl updated that the Suicide Prevention plan has been reviewed in light of COVID-19. Real time surveillance data has been shared weekly to ensure that suicide numbers are tracked during this time. There has been a very slight downturn in rates since lockdown was implemented. Mental health crisis lines were rapidly activated across C&M and the Stay Alive App is being updated with relevant information. The Kind to your Mind campaign ran as a response to the pandemic and a World Suicide Prevention Day event is being planned as a webinar in September.