Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting. 

Mr Richard Ellis, Joint Lead Borough Director for Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG), advised that the COVID-19 vaccination programme had been running since the third week of December 2020, approximately 6-7 weeks.  A number of vaccination sites had been running across the Borough and it was hoped that more would be opened. 

The Department of Health had set a target for all areas to have vaccinated 75% of the following priority groups by 14 February 2021:

1.    Residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults;

2.    All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers;

3.    All those aged 75-79; and

4.    All those aged 70-74 and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals (not including pregnant women and those under 16 years of age).

Mr Ellis confirmed that Hillingdon had already achieved the following:

1. 84% of those aged 80+ had been vaccinated;
2. 90% of those aged 75-79 had been vaccinated;
3. 84% of those aged 70-74 had been vaccinated;
4. 60% of clinically and extremely vulnerable individuals had been vaccinated;
5. 73% of care home residents and staff had been vaccinated.  CNWL and other colleagues had vaccinated almost all residents in all care homes with the remainder being vaccinated on 10 February 2021; and
6. Approximately two thirds of health and social care staff had been vaccinated.

It was anticipated that the vaccination programme would be widened out to the following groups in the next week:

1. All those aged 65-69; and
2. Adults aged 16-65 in an at-risk group.

Mr Ellis noted that the success of the vaccination programme in Hillingdon had been as a result of joint working between the various partners including the Council, voluntary sector and health partners.  Ms Sandra Taylor, the Council’s Director Provider Services and Commissioned Care, echoed the comments made by Mr Ellis in relation to the effectiveness of the joined up working that been undertaken. 

Dr Veno Suri, Vice Chairman of the Hillingdon Local Medical Committee, advised that general practice had been prioritising the roll out of the vaccination programme.  That said, he strongly advised that patients should continue to contact their GP for routine care as normal services were also still being provided.  GPs were being advised when their patients had not attended a vaccination appointment or had not booked an appointment even though they were eligible and were proactively contacting them to address any issues.  They had also been working hard to identify eligible patients and book them in for a vaccination appointment. 

Dr Suri stated that he had been humbled by the way that the vaccination programme had been rolled out in Hillingdon, particularly in comparison with other London boroughs.  The programme had been well coordinated and issues experienced tended to be in relation to the availability of the vaccine rather than resources.  These issues had included the logistics around the three-day shelf life of one of the vaccines that had been administered. 

Ms Taylor advised that action had been taken to identify all social care workers in Hillingdon (approximately 4,600) and all of them had been offered the vaccination.  Around 2,500 of these staff had taken up the vaccination offer so far, with this figure still increasing.  There had been reluctance from some staff cohorts who had adopted a watch and wait approach.  It had been made clear to those who had not yet taken up the offer or who had refused the offer, that they could change their minds at any time. 

Members appreciated the effort that had been made to deal with the huge logistical challenge that had been posed in getting the vaccination programme up and running.  It was noted that the closest mass vaccination site to Hillingdon had been based in Wembley but this seemed a significant journey for some of the Borough’s residents.  Mr Ellis advised that residents would be offered more pharmacy sites as they became available and noted that the opening of local mass vaccination sites was awaited.  He would provide the Democratic Services Manager with more information about these additional mass vaccination sites which could then be circulated to Members. 

Concern was expressed that some residents were unable to get to local vaccination appointments as they did not have their own transport and were unable to use public transport.  Mr Ellis advised that arrangements were being made for those patients who were registered with their GP as being housebound to have their vaccination at home.  In addition, consideration was being given to the provision of reduced cost / free transport for some residents to vaccination sites. 

Dr Suri believed that the service being provided by the Federation of GPs would be the way forward.  If it transpired that the COVID vaccination needed to be undertaken annually, Mr Ellis believed that it would make sense that this was done by GPs and community pharmacies at the same time as the flu vaccination. 

Although recent media broadcasts had been negative about the performance of the vaccination programme in North West London (NWL), the statistics presented at the meeting had painted a different picture.  Mr Ellis would provide the Democratic Services Manager with local statistics for circulation to the Committee.  He noted that NWL should be proud of its performance as these boroughs had vaccinated more people in less time than the rest of London.  Of the eight NWL boroughs, Hillingdon had performed the best. 

It was suggested that action needed to be taken to ensure that all of the feedback being given at all levels was collated in one place.  Mr Ellis spent a lot of time talking to health colleagues and agreed that there was a need to collate all of the ideas and suggestions that were coming through.  Ms Taylor noted that the Health Protection Board had been meeting on a monthly basis.  In addition, a NWL communication group had been collecting information about lessons learnt and promoting the uptake of the vaccine to priority groups. 

Dr Suri noted that GPs had access to a dashboard which identified which patients had not taken up the opportunity to have the vaccine.  At his Hayes practice, there was a large South Asian population but uptake had not been low.  However, neighbouring practices had reported a low uptake from this same group in their areas.  To encourage more BAME residents to have the vaccination, videos had been produced in different languages to dispel any myths.  GPs were advised when their patients did not turn up for their vaccination or if they had not booked an appointment to get their vaccination.  When this happened, surgeries were proactively contacting these patients to identify any issues. 

It was noted that antibody tests had been undertaken for health staff in 2020 but the results had not provided particularly useful data.  Whilst the test could establish whether or not the individual had had the virus, it could not state when they had had it, how long it had taken to develop the antibodies or how long the antibodies would last.  Dr Suri was not aware of any plans for further antibody testing to be rolled out post COVID vaccination – effort was currently being concentrated on rolling out the first dose of the vaccination. 

With regard to the supply of the vaccine, Mr Ellis advised that NWL would welcome as much as it could get.  To this end, NWL continued to push for additional supplies of the vaccine.  Although there had been rumours of a reduced supply, this had not yet been proven to be true.  Dr Suri noted that there had not been any issues with supply in Ruislip and, although the Hayes site had expected problems, this had not been borne out. 

Ms Taylor advised that Community Champions had been appointed and were working on the uptake of testing in the South of the Borough for both lateral flow (LF) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.  Uptake in the area had been low in terms of vaccination and testing.  As such, work was being undertaken with community leaders and the police to understand what was preventing uptake in these communities.  Webinars were being held for faith leaders and leaflets were being sent out with home care workers to give to patients.  PPE had also been distributed.  A positive and active campaign had been undertaken to promote wellbeing.  Ms Taylor would provide the Democratic Services Manager with a written update on the progress of the Community Champions by the end of March 2021. 

Concern was expressed that information provided to residents about the LF test had not been as crisp as it could have been.  Ms Taylor advised that she would take this issue back to the Hillingdon lead on the communications team.  Whilst it was understood that positive LF tests were largely reliable, there was still a proportion of false negatives.  That said, it was still a useful tool to help key workers to know their current position and could take some cases out of circulation.  In Hillingdon, social care staff were being asked to take two PCR and two LF tests each week. 

Members were advised that the national booking system / process for inviting residents to have their second dose of the COVID vaccination had changed.  Whereas previously individuals had been helped by their GP surgery to get a second dose appointment after they had received the first dose, these second dose appointments (time, date and place) were now automatically being made at their first appointment.  It was noted that patients should wait to be contacted about their appointments rather than chasing their GP. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1.     Mr Richard Ellis provide the Democratic Services Manager with more information about additional mass vaccination sites for circulation to Members;

2.     Mr Richard Ellis provide the Democratic Services Manager with local statistics on the vaccination programme in Hillingdon for circulation to the Committee;

3.     Ms Sandra Taylor provide the Democratic Services Manager with a written update on the progress of the Community Champions by the end of March 2021; and

4.     the discussion be noted.