Agenda item

Denise Littlewood, Health Protection Principal, to present the Health Protection Annual Report, including health protection assurance framework

Denise Cornwall, Health Protection Principal, presented the Health Protection assurance report which provided a summary of the assurance functions of the Council’s Health Protection Committee together with performance.

The Board considered the following PowerPoint presentation:-

Health Protection Committee Role

-        Provided assurance that arrangements were in place to protect population health

-        Multi-agency partnership involving the Council, NHS, UKHSA and other partners

-        Oversaw prevention, surveillance, preparedness and response to health threats

-        Reported directly to the Health and Wellbeing Board

Key Health Protection Activity 2025/26

-        Infectious disease surveillance and outbreak management

-        Legionella outbreak investigation

-        Support for complex tuberculosis cases

-        Infection prevention and control support to care homes and learning disability settings

-        Ongoing management of incidents in schools, Early Years and residential care settings

Screening Programme Highlights

-        Antenatal and newborn screening meet all key Performance Indicators

-        Breast screening uptake improved to 75.5%

-        Bowel screening uptake remained above national achievable standard (>60%)

-        Continued focus on improving cervical screening uptake particularly ages 25-49

-        Strong focus on reducing inequalities and improving access for people with learning disabilities and severe mental illness.

Immunisation and Vaccination Highlights

-        Childhood vaccination coverage remained above efficiency standards.

-        Continued improvement in MMR uptake.

-        RSV vaccination programme successfully embedded.

-        Increased flu vaccine uptake across most eligible groups.

-        Adolescent vaccination programmes continued to recover post-pandemic.

Healthcare Associated Infections and TB

-        Healthcare Associated Infections

Significant reduction in C.difficile cases

MRSA remained low (5 community cases)

Ongoing antimicrobial stewardship programme

Continued focus on reducing gram-negative bloodstream infections

-        Tuberculosis

Rotherham remained a low-incidence area

Cases often involved complex social and health needs

Enhanced case management and targeted screening continued

Emergency Planning and Environmental Health

-      Emergency Preparedness

Refreshed incident management arrangements implemented

Participation in national pandemic Exercise PEGASUS

Effective response to severe weather and flooding incidents

-      Environmental Health

10,763 service requests managed

841 food hygiene inspections completed

140 housing enforcement notices issued

89 infectious disease investigations undertaken

Priorities for 2026/27

-        Strengthen infectious disease surveillance

-        Increase screening uptake and reduce inequalities

-        Improve vaccination coverage

-        Reduce healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance

-        Strengthen TB prevention and control

-        Enhance IPC support n care settings

-        Maintain emergency preparedness and resilience

-        Protect health through Environmental Health Services

-        Continue Health Protection Committee development and assurance

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

·       Comparing outbreak data to previous years was not possible as 2025/26 was the first time the data had been collated in this way. However there was no great difference in the figures.

·       The Service was working closely with the housing provider to address the Legionella cases. Work continued to treat the system and a deadline of the end of September 2026 had been set, by which point, a long term action plan was expected to be in place. It was confirmed that residents in the building were being protected.

·       The auditing of Learning Disability settings was a positive step. It was confirmed that each setting was looked at individually to reduce impact on the residents.

Resolved:-  (1) That the content and key achievements of the 2025/26 annual report be noted.

(2) That the delivery of the 2026/27 priorities be supported.