To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

To receive any declarations of interest.

The Chairman declared a personal interest as he worked for a pharmaceutical company, Sanofi Pasteur. Councillor Carroll declared his employment in the interests of full transparency and to highlight that should for any reason during the meeting, or indeed during future meetings, the HWB discussed anything directly related to Sanofi Pastuer’s business he would abstain from the discussion and leave the room as required. The Chairman also declared another personal interest as he was currently working as a policy advisor on the governments vaccine task force.

Councillor Baldwin declared a personal interest as he had an association with Food Share Maidenhead.

Councillor C Da Costa declared a personal interest as she was a volunteer and chair of the West Windsor Hub.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th October 2020.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That the minutes from the meeting held on 13^th October 2020 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

To hear an update on the winter response to Covid.

The Chairman explained that he wanted to hold this additional Health and Wellbeing Board meeting to allow discussion on the winter response to the Covid-19 pandemic and also the national flu campaign.

Tessa Lindfield, Director of Public Health, gave some background to the current situation in RBWM. So far, there had been 2,549 cases overall which was 106 cases per 100,000 of the population (for the week of 26 November – 2 December). The second lockdown had come at the good time for the borough as cases had been rising rapidly, and while there was a data lag cases had started to decrease since the lockdown was introduced. The number of cases for those in the 60+ category had increased by over 76% since the week before, which was largely due to outbreaks in care homes. 13 RBWM residents were currently in hospital, with an average age of 68. Looking at deaths in the borough, a total of 151 residents had died with coronavirus since March. The all-cause mortality rate was around 6% higher than would be expected in a normal year, with the current all-cause mortality rate being in line with what would be expected. Cases across the borough could also be broken down into individual wards, but overall across the whole pandemic figures across the borough were fairly even.

Looking at the current restrictions, RBWM was now in Tier 2 along with the rest of Berkshire other than Slough, which was in Tier 3. The tiers were designed to stop household mixing and reduce the rate of transmission. There would be a slight change of the rules at Christmas, with families able to form a three household Christmas buddle. This would be allowed from 23^rd – 27^th December and would enable families to be together for Christmas, although the rules should still be followed. Between 2,000-2,500 students would be returning to RBWM over the Christmas period, with students advised to travel home between 3^rd and 9^th December and testing had taken place on many campuses around the UK to ensure that the virus could be contained. Tessa Lindfield said that if the eight main behaviours/rules were followed, the transmission rate would remain low. It was important that people were careful over the Christmas period and ensured that they saw as few people as possible.

Councillor Rayner joined the meeting.

The Chairman said that it was important that everyone tried to limit the requirement for contact with others so that the virus did not spread further.

Caroline Farrar updated the Board from the perspective of Frimley Health and Care.

•       Locally the NHS continued to focus on responding to the pandemic, winter and restoring services which were paused during the initial wave and the associated backlog of those waiting to be seen.

•       The priority remained on addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in the community and addressing the direct and indirect impact of Covid-19.

•       Significant progress had been made in recovering backlog  ...  view the full minutes text for item 234/15

·         Tuesday 19^th January 2021, at 3pm

·         April 2021

·         July 2021

·         October 2021

The Chairman said that he would take stock of the situation in the new year and hold additional meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board if it was required, depending on circumstances.

Hilary Hall said that Tracy Hendren would be able to provide an update on Homelessness and rough sleepers in the borough at the next meeting.

Members of the Board noted that the date of the next scheduled meeting was on Tuesday 19^th January 2021 at 3pm.