Agenda item

Councillor Shah MOVED and Councillor Fielding SECONDED a report which outlined Oldham’s partnership response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 31^st December 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province China.  On 12 January 2020, it was announced that a new novel coronavirus had been identified, causing the outbreak.  This virus is referred to as SARS-CoV-2 and the associated disease as COVID-19.  Since January, the virus has spread quickly across the globe, causing a global pandemic.

Manchester and Greater Manchester (GM) declared a major incident on Friday, 20 March 220.  This activated the multi-agency response arrangements in line with the GM generic response plan and the pandemic flu plan.  The Prime Minister’s unprecedented announcement at 8.30 p.m. on Monday, 23 March 2020 set out the seriousness of the situation and the expectations of all residents, businesses and public services.

New emergency legislation was passed into law which supported local authorities in responding to the pandemic, whilst ensuring essential business and services continued.  The legislation gave the Council a statutory duty to co-ordinate food, self-care, medical supplies and other forms of necessary assistance to vulnerable groups in response to COVID-19.

In line with other Greater Manchester authorities, Oldham established a major incident command structure which included a Gold, Silver and Bronze approach.  This included a Political Gold of Council Leader/Deputy Leaders and the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Main Opposition Group.

The report summarised the Oldham Partnership’s response to COVID-19, highlighting the contribution form the Council’s partners and communities in tackling the pandemic.  As the response covered almost all service areas, the report highlighted six thematic areas:

1.    Protecting our most vulnerable residents – including Community Bronze Group, emergency food distribution, volunteering, supporting wider need and the Helpline and Response System.

2.    Health and Wellbeing – including Oldham CCG and Critical Care Services, Public Health Campaign, Mental Health Services, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Test and Trace, Care Homes and Bereavement Support

3.    Keeping Services Going – including Community Safety and Cohesion, Domestic Abuse, Education, Libraries and Gallery Oldham, Parks and Greenspaces, Safeguarding, Waste and Recycling, Accommodation Review, Communications and Workforce.

4.    Helping people back on their feet – including financial support to residents, food donations and fundraising, Housing and homelessness, support for carers and Welfare Rights.

5.    Supporting businesses and Oldham’s economy – including small business grants and retail, leisure and hospitality grants and Business Rate relief.

6.    The transition from lockdown to recovery.

Question received from Councillor H. Gloster:

“How may Covid-19 Cases there have been by ward, and the death rate for each of those wards/”

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that the Council did not currently have the data on the number of COVID cases and deaths at ward level – this was a national policy.  At the Local Authority level, as of 16^th June 2020, there were 1,139 cases confirmed in Oldham, a rate 483.4 per 100,000 population.

Question received from Councillor Hamblett:

“In October 2016, national, regional and local government bodies participated in a three-day simulation.  This was entitled Exercise Cygnus which tested preparedness arrangements for responding to pandemic influenza  Feedback and lessons learned were established via a formal process of feedback from all participants.  The response they can confirm that the Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Resilience Forum did not take part in this exercise.  Why was this not undertaken by this Council and by the Greater Manchester region and why did not implement the guidance it gave?”

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that the Council did not take part in the exercise and any further details could be gathered from Public Health England.  Before COVID-19, Oldham Council had a pandemic flu plan in place which was based on guidance form central government.  This was in line with other Greater Manchester plans.  There were a wide range of emergency planning simulations that took part each year and the Council worked with the Greater Manchester Resilience Forum to determine which the Council took part in.  The Council also worked across the system to implement any recommendations which arose from these simulations.

Question received from Councillor C. Gloster:

“How many places did the authority block book in Oldham care homes for recovering Covid-19 patients leaving hospital?  Were many of the patients then re-tested for Covid-19 before they returned to the care homes, and how many Covid-19 related deaths have been reported from care home residents in Oldham?”

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that 24 placed had been booked, but not just for recovering Covid-19 patients, but to maintain flow out of hospital more generally.  Hospital discharge guidance stated that all should be tested prior to discharge.  Guidance sated all new residents should self-isolate in their rooms as the point of being admitted.  As of 12^th June 2020, of which 81 had died in the care homes and 25 had died in hospital.

Question received from Councillor Al-Hamdani:

“In two parts, please could the Council be informed as to what has been the impact of Covid-19 on the lives of the residents occupying Council-owned, Public Finance Initiative-2 and Public Finance Initiative-4 social housing?  And what specific support has been provided to these residents, particularly the elderly, vulnerable and disabled, by the housing management providers, Housing 21 and Great Places, during this current crises?”

Councillor Shah, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Covid-19 Response responded that essential services, including urgent repairs, fire safety checks, gas servicing, cleaning on communal areas, etc., all continued to be delivered.  Services were unable to access properties where the household had been self-isolating.  Certain other softer services, such as social activities, residents’ meetings, coffee mornings, etc., had been curtained in line with government guidance.  Prioritisation of any general needs re-lets had been given to provide permanent accommodation for those occupying temporary accommodation.  Sor far three families had been permanently re-housed to date.  The re-letting of bungalows and sheltered flats was being managed with great care and with full risk-assessments undertaken.  The re-letting of Extra Care flats had been temporarily put on hold.  Twenty-thousand pounds had been donated through PFI partners to the Action Together Covid-19 relief fund to support the community hubs.  All residents had been contacted by the Council’s PFI providers to ensure they had all the support they needed.  This included ensuring residents had food and essential items delivered either by Age UK or Action Together and also sign-posted to support networks as required.  Those affected by loss of employment and income had been sign-posted and supported by Housing 21 and Great Places to apply for the benefited to which they were entitled.  For residents in sheltered schemes, creative ways of avoiding social isolation were in place such as ‘door step corridor bingo’.  Both Inspiral Oldham (Great Places and Wates) and Housing 21 had been exemplary during the pandemic crises and had worked well in partnership with the Council’s PFI Housing Contract team.

Councillor Goodwin spoke on the report ad asked a question related to grants.

Councillor Sykes made an observation on the report and thanked staff as well as thanked doctors and nurses in the NHS in dealing with COVID-19.

Councillor Hobin thanked all the volunteers on the hotline and asked a question about the figures in the report.  Councillor Shah responded that the Council had captured the information as best it could.

Councillor Mushtaq spoke on the report.

Councillor Jabbar spoke on the report in response to Councillor Goodwin’s question.

Councillor Shah exercised her right of reply.

RESOLVED that:

1.         Oldham’s Partnership Response to the COVID-19 pandemic be noted.

2.         The questions and responses provided be noted.

NOTED:  Councillor Ahmad left the meeting during this item.