Agenda item

Coronavirus Update

Director of Public Health

Minutes:

The Chairman invited the following to the table:

 

           Dr Tamara Djuretic, Director of Public Health, London Borough of Barnet

           Ms Jane Hawdon, Consultant Neonatologist, Medical Director and Responsible Officer, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (deputising for Dr Chris Streather)

           Dr Mike Greenberg, Medical Director, Barnet Hospital

 

Dr Djuretic reported that current coronavirus rates in Barnet were around 20 per 100,000 and that data is published weekly. Approximately 33,000 tests were being carried out weekly with around 0.2% positivity rate which was continuing to decrease. Schools were testing all pupils and staff on a regular basis.

 

Dr Djuretic added that some mutations could become a concern. There were a small number of cases of the ‘Indian’ Variant in Barnet. 15 people had been identified in April and five in May but no areas of concern had been identified. Surge testing is being carried out in schools where cases have been identified in order to ensure that the variant is not spreading. Ten areas in the Borough are being asked to conduct additional testing. Across the country variants are emerging in areas with lower uptake of the vaccination and higher levels of infection.

 

Dr Djuretic reported that London overall is sequencing positive cases and  also contact tracing every positive case, then trying to identify whether these were travel related or not.

 

Dr Djuretic reported that Barnet has the highest vaccination uptake across North Central London (NCL). Vaccination was progressing well, with 184,500 first doses of the vaccine, and 62,000 second doses administered in Barnet. Uptake in Groups 1-4 was 89-90%, with uptake in the younger age groups at 60-70%. The uptake amongst care workers stands at 78%.

 

Dr Djuretic reported that Barnet’s mass vaccination centre at Stone X (formerly Allianz Park) has been opened and has been a great success. Efforts were also being made to increase uptake where this was low, using pop-up clinics, links with faith groups and providing opportunities for asylum seekers, refugees and homeless people to receive the vaccine.

 

The Chairman invited Dr Greenberg to respond to the Chairman’s four questions which had been sent in advance of the meeting:

 

1)         How many people with Covid-19 have been admitted to the Trust’s hospitals in February, March and April 2021?

 

           February - 320

           March - 74

           April - 15

 

2)         How many patients had been discharged, having been successfully treated for Covid-19 in February, March and April 2021?

 

           February - 555

           March - 169

           April – 3

 

3)         How many patients have died of Covid-19 in the Trust’s hospitals during February, March and April 2021?

 

           February - 108

           March: 26

           April: RFH – 0

 

4)         How does the mortality rate for February, March and April 2021 compare with the same months in 2020?

 

           Feb 2020:  1.29%, Feb 2021: 2.06%

           March 2020: 2.16%, March 2021: 1.06%

           April 2020: 6.75%, April 2021: 0.91%

 

Ms Hawdon noted that the RFH is vaccinating people and has a contract to vaccinate at Stone X (formerly Allianz Park) which opened recently. Residents below 50 years of age are now being vaccinated and 11,000 people in total had been vaccinated so far at Stone X.

 

CQC/Maternity services at the RFL NHS Foundation Trust

 

Dr Greenberg provided an update on the maternity services dataset (see previous Minutes). This would be resolved by December 2021 and there were three reasons

 

for problems with it:

 

           RFH and BH/CFH have different Electronic Patient Records (EPR) domains and the Royal Free Hospital (RFH) will be moving to the Barnet Hospital (BH) and Chase Farm Hospital (CFH) system in autumn 2021.

           The Maternity Dataset has been upgraded so it is now reported manually.

           Data Quality - the reporting issue has been raised on the Risk Register, but the Trust explained that often midwives were not entering this as they should be on the system. The Trust explained that this was the reason for it being on the Risk Register, although the Trust assured the Committee that this was not a ‘risk’.

 

The Chairman asked Dr Greenberg to pass on the Committee’s best wishes to Dr Streather.

 

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the verbal updates.