Agenda item

The purpose of the report is to provide members of the Health and Wellbeing Board with an update on the health protection assurance arrangements in York and health protection activities over the past year.

This report was presented by the Director of Public Health who noted that this item came before the board every year, as one of the key statutory functions for the council was protecting the health of the public.

He explained that the reason this came to HWBB and not a council committee route was that though it was a statutory duty of the Director of Public Health (a council officer) to protect the health of the population from hazards that are harmful to health, many of the partners who assist in this task sit within the NHS and other agencies and a comprehensive approach was taken to deal with infectious disease.

He advised that the Public Health team were able to mount a response within 24 hours regarding antibiotics and vaccines. Screening programmes were working well – cervical screening, abdominal and aortic aneurisms had improved. Vaccine uptake could get better – York tended to do middling to better, but no programmes went above the 95% threshold nationally.

He explained that there had been a slightly more virulent strain of influenza this year – which happened two weeks earlier. The Friday prior to the meeting indicated the flu rate had not risen, so he expressed hope that this was beginning to tail off.

He discussed the spread of blood-borne resistant bacteria, which was on the verge of rendering a lot of common antibiotics redundant, emphasising that doctors should focus on good prescribing.

He highlighted that in January, the board would be discussing water fluoridation which he regarded as beneficial, and he also wanted to mention success with air quality – no area in York this year that had risen above legal levels of Nitrous Oxide. Buses, traffic management and indoor air quality had all contributed to this success.

The board asked whether antimicrobial resistance was the same as antibiotic resistance. The Director of Public Health confirmed that this was the case.

[Cllr Webb joined the meeting at 17:01]

Board members asked what the reasons were for people not getting vaccinated to the optimum 95% level. The Director of Public Health answered that the vast majority of people were not getting vaccinated due to busy lives and medical appointments being inconvenient as the primary factor. There were also people who opposed vaccination, but these were a relative minority, and he advised sticking to the science and making vaccination convenient here.

The board asked for an update on Health Exercise and Nutrition in the Really Young, which at the previous meeting it had been advised was planned for expansion to cover secondary age children. The Director of Public Health answered that there would be a paper on HENRY coming in January. It was being run in the 0-5s and without wishing to prejudge the paper, he believed the intention was still to progress to 6-12.

Board members raised the point about dentistry and oral care – despite the fact York is seen as relatively affluent city, the statistics have shown there are many children under five having extractions in hospital and people giving up hope of ever getting an NHS dentist. The Director of Public Health agreed with the points raised.

The board asked about cervical screening and improving engagement in this area. The Director of Public Health responded that home testing would be starting. The generation of women who have had HPV vaccine will be growing up and he hoped to be tackling inequality through this. The Manager, Healthwatch York

added that Healthwatch had studied screenings, noting that home screenings were very popular and increased participation.

The board asked whether public toilets, mentioned in another report, came within purview of Public Health. The Director of Public Health said that public toilets would be a wider health issue; Legionella could cross over into public toilets in that water is provided to members of the public and this would be a public liability.

With regard to cleaner air, board members asked whether CYC has any ability to influence the combined authority to spread York’s electric bus standard to our neighbouring authority to ensure parity of standards. The Director of Public Health said that he would put forward this suggestion, discussing both the electric buses themselves and York’s air quality alert system which enables the council to contact people with asthma and COPD.

The board then

Resolved:   To receive the report.

Reason:      To be assured of the health protection arrangements to protect the local population.