Agenda item

A presentation was given by Dr Victor Joseph and Dr Shazia Ahmed, which gave an overview of the progress made on addressing health protection matters in Doncaster.

Health Protection was a key issue and one of the main contributing factors to improving the long term health of the people in Doncaster by ensuring services were in place to prevent a number of different illnesses and diseases, as well as ensuring that environmental problems such as air quality were addressed in order to alleviate issues that could later lead to serious health problems.

A number of key actions were highlighted during the course of the presentation in order to provide more information to Members, these being as follows:-

Air Quality:-

There had been a piece of joint work undertaken between Doncaster Council’s Public Health and Environmental Health, with the Air Quality Steering Group working on  a number of issues, which resulted in the production of a refreshed Air Quality Action Plan.

Seasonal influenza:-

It was reported that analysis had been undertaken by the Public Health Team to determine how the uptake of flu vaccination could be improved in order to protect the health of the residents of Doncaster. It was noted that there had been a targeted drive of the flu vaccination within Doncaster’s care homes and this had helped towards the achievement of 77% of Doncaster’s population living in care homes taking up the vaccine offer. The target set nationally, was currently 75%, so in terms of that, Doncaster had shown good progress. However, work was still being undertaken in order to ascertain the differences between people living in different areas across the Borough.

MMR Vaccine:-

Analysis of the uptake of the MMR vaccine had been carried out across different areas and GP Practices across Doncaster in order to identify the areas where the uptake of the second dose was lower in order to address this problem. This would look to alleviate potential outbreaks or epidemics of Mumps, Measles or Rubella, all of which could result in serious health complications.

Tobacco Control:-

This was a key area of work for Public Health, and the vision was to eventually create a Smoke free generation in Doncaster. This however, was a long-term goal, and currently the target was looking more specifically to reduce smoking rates from 19.8% to 10% or less by 2022. A number of key themes were being worked on to achieve this, with the introduction of smoke free environments, training on the risks of smoking, Support for smokers trying to stop and the effective enforcement of smoking in smoke free places and the sale of illicit substances which were both cheaper and more harmful.

The Board was also provided with updates in terms of screening and immunisation, and a number of figures were provided on these, as well as the issues raised above, for Members to consider.

Following the presentation, the Chair afforded Members of the Board the opportunity to ask any questions of the officers relating to the issues raised.

One of the main areas of discussion raised by the Board was in relation to tobacco control and the aim to reduce smoking rates.  There was the need to ensure that the message across all health partners was the same, with consistency applied. It was welcomed that a smoke free Doncaster was being worked towards. It was noted that the frontage of the hospital was being changed to a smoke free area, and although patients and visitors would be able to vape, any smoking would be enforced.

The Board welcomed the work being undertaken and in particular, were pleased to see the improvement in the uptake of vaccinations, particularly seasonal influenza. However, there was still room for improvement and the offer could potentially be opened to a wider audience, with people such as carers and home workers targeted in order to widen the net of people protected.

The Chair thanked the Officers for the presentation, and welcomed the update, although it was noted that it would have been helpful to see the report in its entirety. However, the progress that had been reflected upon was pleasing, although a point to note, it was felt, was in relation to screening. Although it was classified as ‘green’, this figure had dropped, and it was important that it be acted upon before it fell into ‘amber’ in the future.

            RESOLVED that:-

1)    The Health and Wellbeing Board note the progress made on addressing health protection matters in Doncaster;

2)    The recommendation to continue to work with local partners and to monitor immunisation update, in particular seasonal influenza vaccinations and MMR, be endorsed;

3)    The work of the Doncaster Active Travel Alliance be endorsed, acknowledging the importance of encouraging residents to cycle and walk short journeys;

4)    The work on tackling the reduction of smoking in Doncaster be endorsed; and

5)    The Health and Wellbeing Board endorse the work undertaken in monitoring and reporting on progress with regard to broader health protection functions in the Borough.