ITEM CM5(a)
COMMUNITY SAFETY SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 27 OCTOBER 2008
IS THE COUNTY COUNCIL READY FOR A FLU PANDEMIC?
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ARISING FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 7 JULY 2008
Introduction
The Community Safety Scrutiny Committee met on 7 July 2008 to consider whether the County Council is making sufficient and appropriate progress in preparing for a flu pandemic. Representatives from each Directorate and the Corporate Core (County HR Manager) attended the meeting, together with the Operational Pandemic Flu Lead from Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT).
The Committee decided not to produce a detailed report from the meeting but, in order to be able to respond more rapidly, to set out their main and overarching concerns in this short document. Some of the concerns relate to more to particular services, whilst others have corporate implications. However there are none that are entirely specific to only one Directorate and therefore they have been expressed in general terms.
Members of the Scrutiny Committee are anxious that this paper should be seen as adding strength to the greater emphasis that has recently been given to flu pandemic planning. Members formed the view that, whilst planning is moving in the right direction and a lot of good work has been done, there is a need for greater urgency in some areas if the target of having good quality plans in place by the end of this year is to be achieved.
Comments and Recommendations
1. The Committee was pleased to hear that each of the Directorates/services represented had identified a senior officer to act as the lead officer to take forward the planning and to ensure that the plan for their Directorate/service is kept up to date. It did appear however that some of the services represented did not know who their lead officer was and precisely what their responsibilities are.
Therefore the Committee RECOMMENDS that all Directors be asked to:
(a) confirm who their lead officer is and what is expected of them; (b) establish a procedure to ensure that a replacement lead officer is appointed and briefed immediately should the present lead officer move on.
2. Members were also very pleased to hear that progress is being reported monthly to CCMT and to the Informal Cabinet until the end of this year.
The Committee RECOMMENDS that progress reports should continue after December, at intervals to be agreed by CCMT and the Informal Cabinet.
3. Good progress has been made in beginning to identify the crucial services that would have to be maintained in the event of a pandemic (items 4,8 and 9 of the CCMT agreed preparatory actions). However more needs to be done; for example, members were not convinced that sufficient consideration has yet been given to the situation that could occur if, independent boarding schools or private residential homes were to close, or to the provision of ‘meals on wheels’ to vulnerable citizens. In such cases it is not just the County Council that would need to have plans ready, but the service providers themselves.
The Committee RECOMMENDS that Directorates should consider again whether they have communicated with all critical service providers the need to jointly plan and prepare for a flu pandemic.
4. Similar urgent discussions are required with contractors such as those providing winter maintenance, servicing of vehicles and so on (item9 of the CCMT agreed preparatory actions).
The Committee RECOMMENDS Directors to identify the large number of contract based services being provided by private sector companies, voluntary organisations, health organisations and others and to arrange for discussions to take place with those providers if they have not already done so.
The Council would need to be assured about the plans that those organisations have in place and the processes that exist to keep them up to date.
The Committee RECOMMENDS Lead Officers to seek clarification regarding the contingency planning arrangements by those suppliers who supply services to more than one authority (in some cases the whole of the South East or wider) in order to ascertain whether their contingency plans are just an individual entity for each authority or whether they would be operational if a number of authorities were to experience the pandemic, (which would be highly probable).
The Committee also RECOMMENDS Directors to consider the need for robust pandemic planning as a condition when awarding contracts.
5. More work needs to be done regarding the links between Directorates and cross-Directorate providers of support services (item 8 of the CCMT agreed preparatory actions). Members believe that there is a need for all Directorates to speed up discussions with Shared Services, Legal Services, Finance, ICT and HR.
The Committee RECOMMENDS that Lead Officers ensure that discussions soon take place with Shared Services, Legal Services, Finance, ICT and HR.
6. The Committee identified that cross-directorate planning was a key area of work to be done (item 8 of the CCMT agreed preparatory actions). The Committee was unsure whether appropriate discussions had taken place between Directorates over what joint planning is required; for example between E&E and S&CS (not to forget the PCT) over the use of vehicles.
The Committee RECOMMENDS that:
(a) Immediate consideration should be given to what joint planning is required across Directorates.
(b) Lead Officers should ensure that each Directorate and external partner is aware what others expect of them and they should meet regularly to ensure that planning remains up to date.
(c) Consideration should be given to the issue of insurance and liability in particular if “unskilled” staff were to stand in during the pandemic. It is recognised however that, in the event of a pandemic, what is deemed ‘reasonable’ would have to prevail.
7. Whilst each Directorate and service is going ahead with their individual plans, members were uncertain how much is being done to join up those plans across the whole Council. It is important that, once Directorates have identified what they consider to be the most critical services for them to maintain, those are, if possible, placed in a prioritised list relating to the whole Council. If that is not possible then it should be made clear that such decisions would be necessary when a pandemic strikes.
Therefore, the Committee RECOMMENDS that once Directorates have identified what they consider to be the most critical services to be maintained, those services are placed, if at all possible, in a prioritised list relating to the whole Council.
8. Members were concerned at the apparent delay in undertaking the cross-Directorate staff survey that would seek to identify whether, during a pandemic, staff could work additional hours, in other areas and/or at home, if childcare commitments would prevent them from working at their normal place of work, and whether staff have any additional skills or qualifications that they would be prepared to offer in the event of a flu pandemic or other major emergency (items 3 and 7of the agreed preparatory actions).
The Committee RECOMMENDS that the staff survey should be circulated immediately, should be made part of the standard appraisal process to ensure that it is kept up to date and should be refreshed during a pandemic to ensure it is still up to date..
9. A number of the answers that members received seemed to suggest that it was felt that some aspects of planning could be left until Alert Level 1 (cases identified outside the UK) was instituted. The Committee considered that this was not early enough as the time between Level 1 being declared and an actual outbreak could be only a matter of a few weeks.
Therefore the Committee RECOMMENDS that full plans should be ready and regularly reviewed well in advance so that they would only be required to be refreshed once the possibility of a pandemic is announced.
10. Members were unsure whether any of the plans included keeping Councillors aware of what would be happening within their Divisions (e.g. school closures). As community leaders it would be vital for them to know what is happening and provision should be made for this.
The Committee RECOMMENDS that CCMT should ensure that plans include measures to ensure that members are informed of any information of use to the community in the event of a pandemic (or other emergency).
The Committee RECOMMENDS that Mr Travers-Smith (Acting County Emergency Planning Officer) be asked to draw up a template/matrix which clearly shows where Directorates have reached, not just what is planned and that this is regularly updated.
11. Although not part of the remit for this meeting, members would wish to see the development of recovery plans indicating how the organisation would get back to normal once the pandemic had run its course.
12. It is the Committee’s intention to consider this matter again at their meeting in October this year when Lead officers and Directors would be invited to indicate progress.
13. Finally, members of the Committee wish to express their thanks to everybody who attended the meeting on 7 July and who provided the information on which these recommendations are based.
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