There will be a presentation to provide an update on the progress concerning the Health Inequalities Action Plan with the associated links to Covid 19.
Minutes:
The Director of Public Health gave a presentation which provided an update on the progress concerning the Health Inequalities Action Plan with the associated links to Covid 19.
It was reported that since Public Health England had announced the initiative, a significant amount of work had been undertaken and shared nationally, to understand the population and how health inequalities affected our communities.
The presentation provided a summary of the COVID-19 health inequalities data, deprivation, and life expectancy, including:
- COVID-19 implications by ethnic group, deprivation and local area
- COVID-19 vaccinations by ethnic group, deprivation and local area
Details were provided of the Community Engagement proposals to address inequalities through behaviour change, the COVID inequalities plan and details of the COVID-19 impact upon Mental health (Including Prevention and Promotion Fund for better Mental Health).
In terms of the impact on the city, the following key points were noted:
• Nearly a third of city residents have had a COVID-19 positive test result.
• About 4,500 COVID-19 related admissions for city residents.
• There have been 1,076 COVID-19 deaths where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate.
• Most of the eligible population have had at least one vaccination.
• Estimates suggest thousands of residents remain unvaccinated.
It was noted that the impact upon ethnic groups demonstrated that some ethnic groups had been more likely than others to have tested positive and in turn been admitted to hospital. Black British, and Asian British had reported higher rates of admission.
It was further noted that the impact by deprivation demonstrated that the percentage of positive tests by deprivation decile was similar with about a third of residents having reported a positive result. There was much greater variation when analysing admissions by deprivation.
The aims of the Community Wellbeing Champions project was described, which would develop a network of organisations and volunteer health and wellbeing champions drawn from across the diverse communities.
The key points of the Covid Inequalities Action Plan were noted as follows:
• Developed and owned by the team at the CCG
• Reviewed regularly at Monday meetings
• Sections for:
– Areas of the city with lower vaccine uptake
– ‘Hyperlocal’ pop up activity
– Pregnant women
– Children and young people
– Homeless and rough sleeping populations
– Other groups of interest
• Individual groups to tackle each of these areas with regular meetings to assess progress
In conclusion, aspects concerning the impact on Mental Wellbeing and the suggestions to increase uptake and engagement were described.
The Chair thanked officers for the detailed information and data analysis in the presentation and commented on its importance and usefulness going forward. The data concerning life expectancy, analysis of deprived areas, and issues concerning ethnicity was considered as an exceptional and valuable piece of work.
The Assistant City Mayor (Health) supported the Chair’s comments and thanked officers for the presentation. She stated that the substantial level of detail was important and would be helpful in the development of future policy.
In response to questions, the definition of people in poor or bad health was clarified and it was noted that this was taken from Census data.
AGREED:
That the update be noted, and officers be thanked for their efforts in collating and presenting the data.