The Cheshire and Merseyside (C&M) Directors of Public Health (DsPH) currently meet weekly. The key messages from the 3rd December meeting are as follows:
- UKHSA COVID-19 update – Case numbers have increased slightly in some areas whilst others have seen a small decrease, the greatest of which is Cheshire East who have seen a decrease of 9.5% with overall C&M case numbers just below the North West average. Ages 5 to 9 and 10 to 14 remain the groups with the highest case numbers, and whilst hospitalisations have increased slightly, cases in those over 60 continue to fall. Case numbers of the Omicron variant continue to rise. A national call is being held Friday 3rd December to discuss policies and procedures for a national and local response.
- Office of Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID) – Building an effective collaboration – Andrew Furber, Regional Director OHID North West delivered a presentation providing an overview of OHID and its function and priorities going forward. DsPH agreed to look at the suggested areas for joint working and a workshop will be held in the New Year for C&M to agree the focus.
- NHSE Core20PlUS5 – Eileen O’Meara, in her new role as Interim Clinical Director for NHS North West, provided an overview of five key areas for focus by the NHS to reduce health inequalities. A meeting has been arranged for the C&M Healthcare Public Health Leads on 14th December to discuss ways in which to work together and how best to support the NHS in delivering these priorities. A further workshop will then be arranged with clinical leads in the New Year.
- Good news and Gratitude
- Good media coverage has been seen in response to the C&M DsPH joint statement on the new Omicron variant. To read the statement visit https://champspublichealth.com/joint-statement-from-the-directors-of-public-health-in-cheshire-and-merseyside-on-the-emergence-of-the-new-omicron-variant/
- A successful public health research network engagement event was held this week, and thanks were expressed to the Champs Support Team for supporting this.
- Thanks were expressed to Thara Raj and the team at Warrington for successfully progressing the commissioning of the dental epidemiology survey for 5 year olds.
- Ravi Menghani from the Champs Support Team delivered a presentation at the National Prevention Board on the achievements in the Champs alcohol harm programme which was well received.
- The first Marmot Advisory Board meeting was held this morning with good engagement, thanks were expressed to Ian Ashworth for chairing the meeting.