Weekly update from Cheshire and Merseyside’s Directors of Public Health – 9th July 2021

The Cheshire & Merseyside (C&M) Directors of Public Health (DsPH) currently meet weekly. The key messages from the 9^th July meeting are as follows:

1. C&M health protection model initial findings– Directors are working collaboratively on defining the vision and ambition for the future health protection model in the subregion, and heard a progress update following extensive engagement with the local public health system and key strategic leaders.
2. PHE exceedance report and strategic action – Cases of COVID-19 are high across the subregion and are expected to increase over the coming weeks. Directors are developing strategies to manage this and Sam Ghebrehewet from PHE has developed a discussion paper highlighting the key implications, risks and proposed actions for DsPH to consider.
3. C&M DsPH joint statement for 19^th July – A joint statement is being developed to advise C&M residents and businesses following the lifting of restrictions.
4. Schools thank you letter – A letter has been developed for DsPH to amend locally to thank school staff for all their efforts over the pandemic.
5. Good news and gratitude
   1. Directors thanked the Champs Support Team for organising the Building Back Fairer Marmot Community Launch event on Wednesday 7th July. Over 280 delegates attended the event to discuss inequalities and kick-start the subregion’s plans to become a Marmot Community.
   2. PHE NW have appointed two new Consultants in Health Protection to the C&M Health Protection Team, Wendi Shepherd will provide support to Wirral and Tanith Palmer will support Cheshire West and Chester.
   3. St Helens are to receive 50 additional staff to assist with surge testing; Warrington have also been allocated additional resource to support weekend surge testing and vaccine hesitancy over the next five weeks.
   4. The Cheshire West and Chester public health annual report has been issued taking the format of a 15 minute video.
   5. A pop up vaccination site is being held in Sefton park with capacity to offer up to 8,000 people a first or second dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine.
   6. From 12^th July, Terry Whalley will be joining the Champs Support Team on a part-time basis to provide senior strategic leadership in working towards a integrated contact tracing system across Cheshire and Merseyside. He will oversee the delivery of the DHSC bid and support the work being led by Julie Webster as lead Director.