Councillors and committees

Agenda item

LOCAL OUTBREAK CONTROL COMMUNICATIONS PLAN UPDATE

A communications and engagement strategy has been developed to support the Local Outbreak Control Plan from the 1 July. The primary objective of the Communications Plan is to communicate Test and Trace advice and guidance to maximise awareness and compliance and so help contain and reduce the spread of COVID-19. In the past couple of months the Communications Plan has evolved as more has been learnt about our public health response to the virus. 

 

 

Minutes:

Witnesses:

 

Andrea Newman - Director of Communications and Engagement (SCC)

 

Key points raised in the discussion:

 

  1. The Director of Communications and Engagement introduced the report and commented that it a lot of time went by in between the Board’s meetings, as communications were changing on a frequent basis she would liaise with the Chairman on how Board members could be more frequently updated outside of the formal meetings.
  2. In response to the earlier query by a Board member on the social media posts noting that Waverley was at a raised level, she explained that she was not aware of those posts and had messaged colleagues on the matter. She noted that if there were future posts like that, for the Board member to notify the Communications and Engagement Manager at Waverley Borough Council; who sat on the MIG.
  3. In response to the Vice-Chairman’s earlier query on public confidence in relation to numbers and conflicting media reports, the Director of Communications and Engagement noted that communications campaigns provided briefs to the media as based on the figures in the COVID-19 weekly intelligence summary report. She reassured the Board that she had positive feedback from the BBC that the Director of Public Health was visible and noted that the Communications team gave regular media briefings to the BBC and Surrey Live as they enquired into the context of the data. She added that the COVID-19 Communications Lead (SCC) sat on the COVID-19 Daily Data Monitoring meeting in order for the team to understand the data.
  4. The Director of Communications and Engagement commented that the Communications team were writing the NHS Test and Trace Communications Plan for Surrey (Communications Plan) whilst delivering it at same time as it was adaptive, it built on lessons learnt and harnessed effective approaches. In line with national guidance and working closely with the Public Health team, the Communications Plan was preventative focusing on maximising awareness and compliance to help contain and reduce the spread. 

·      It was a sophisticated Communications Plan taking into account traditional methods of communications, social media, a GP text messaging service was put in place - she thanked the Clinical Chair, Surrey Heartlands CCG - and dynamic geo-targeting methods were used to target individuals moving across border and within Surrey allowing the team to follow digital footprints and make comms interventions when needed.

·      The team found that where there were small numbers of cases in a school for instance or in a locality, local residents felt there was an outbreak despite such situations not qualifying under the public health definition of an outbreak. The work of communications was to provide reassurance and work proactively.

·      The Communications Plan was split into a three phased approach from green coloured media infographics for phase one to amplify national guidance and preventative messages, to orange coloured media infographics for phase two which was the current phase for Woking, Elmbridge and Spelthorne where cases were increasing and it focused on warning and informing residents and the need for greater vigilance; to red coloured infographics alerting residents to high increases in infection rates and any local restrictions.

·      Phase two pre-empted the amber phase of the PHE COVID-19 Contain Framework, as the Plan was focused on prevention and increasing vigilance.

·      Where the number of cases in Woking decreased, the colouring of the infographics from orange to green indicated a de-escalation. Enhanced community engagement was effective in Woking such as liaising with a local imam to translate COVID-19 videos into Bengali and Urdu which were shared via community WhatsApp groups, Facebook and Instagram. Out of 140,000 residents in Woking, 34,000 were reached in phase two messaging which was a large amount and vital as Government guidance and language did not resonate with their communities - other faith colleagues were also engaged with.

  1. The Director of Communications and Engagement noted that social media was a large part of the Communications Plan especially due to lockdown and restrictions imposed and provided an update on the number of residents reached in Elmbridge from the issued phase two amber alert, approximately 65,000 residents had seen the Facebook and Instagram social media posts from the Communications team, averaging two to three times.
  2. She noted that 152,000 residents used the Nextdoor app and the number of residents reached through a twitter campaign was about 5% compared to 49% via a communications campaign to all residents on the app. Posting on the app was free for the Communications team and public sector posts were given greater visibility.
  3. She summarised the social media evaluation of last month across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Display - visible adverts to residents who did online banking or shopping but were not on social media. Adverts across all the media platforms were tailored to residents depending on their demographics, postcode, venue, the hour of day, to ensure targeted messages.
  4. She highlighted the NHS COVID-19 app launched yesterday 24 September. There was a large Government campaign to get people to use it and the Communications team stepped away from other graphics used in order to give information relating to the app a unique look, as behavioural insights evidence from the Department of Health showed that people were getting COVID-19 messaging fatigue.

·         The Communications team was given two weeks’ notice that the app was launching, so worked rapidly with businesses and communities to develop tailored graphics and toolkits had been sent out and local branding was available for districts and borough councils.

·         The Department of Health stressed that the app tracked the virus and not the individual, it and the information stored could be deleted at any time. It was helpful as it monitored symptoms, explained self-isolation and provided a countdown clock.

  1. The Chairman thanked the Director of Communications and Engagement for her detailed update on the communications campaigns and reassurance as the Communications Plan was proactive.
  2. The Director of Communications and Engagement answered a Board member’s comment noting that the team was looking at messaging in supermarkets to target residents who were not online, such as through till receipts. As well as working closely with the SLRF’s Resident Welfare and Volunteer Cell to create a database of those shielding and vulnerable residents particularly without digital access and how best to contact them.

-     The Board member responded that it would be helpful if nationally NHS England would let Local Authorities and health systems know about how they would address and contact the shielding groups should there be a second wave.

-     The Board member celebrated the novel tools used by the team and that multiple messaging to residents was useful.

-     The Board member added that GPs in Spelthorne were more than happy to help for future communications campaigns and that it would be useful to have pre-prepared communications in the future. In response the Director of Communications and Engagement explained that the COVID-19 Communications Lead had since prepared those communications scripts noting the fast-changing environment - she would liaise with the Chairman on how best to keep the Board updated on the pre-pared communications assets.

  1. A Board member reflected that he had found the extent to which both the LOCP and the Communications Plans constantly adapted in response to feedback, the willingness of officers to review the Plans and reach out to partners and across Surrey’s borders, the significant impacts made in high risk areas and the way in which the Board’s membership had expanded bringing in the business voice as represented by the Surrey Chambers of Commerce was reassuring to Board members and residents.
  2. The Chairmanpraised the work of the Public Health team and the Communications team in response to COVID-19 particularly in addition to their business as usual work and that the Board could rely on the expertise of the Director of Public Health as to when areas in Surrey needed to be escalated and communicated with the Board and residents.

 

RESOLVED:

The Board noted developments in the Communications Plan, and the resulting escalation activity.

 

Actions/further information to be provided:

 

  1. The Director of Communications and Engagement will work with the Director of Public Health and the Chairman as to how best to provide more frequent communications updates to Board members outside of the formal meetings.
  2. The Director of Communications and Engagement and the COVID-19 Communications lead to liaise with the Chairman on circulating pre-prepared assets such as communications scripts to Board members who could then circulate them through their organisations.

 

Supporting documents: