Agenda item

A communications and engagement strategy has been developed to support the Local Outbreak Control Plan from the 1 July 2020. The primary objective of the NHS Test and Trace Communications Plan for Surrey 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. The Communications Plan has evolved as more has been learnt about our public health response to the virus and this report provides the latest update on communications activity.

Witnesses:

Abi Pope - Senior Communications Manager, COVID-19 Communications Lead (SCC)

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The COVID-19 Communications Lead (SCC) noted that during the new period of national restrictions since 5 November 2020, the Communications team had developed a number of new campaigns to help support Surrey residents.

2.    She highlighted the first campaign of Surrey tailored ‘National Restrictions’ communications asking people to stay at home reaffirming PHE preventative and testing messaging. The assets were tailored to Surrey’s districts and boroughs, the targeted adverts were displayed in busy train stations in digital screen format, as well as via social media with over 1 million impressions on Facebook and Instagram.

3.    She outlined another campaign ‘2021 is in our hands’ which was on behaviour change in response to weekly behavioural insight reports from Cabinet Office colleagues noting that people were fatigued and were missing out on key milestones in life. A series of GIFs were created to motivate people to keep going and view 2021 positively; covering festivals, sporting events, Diwali, and a future one for Christmas. The campaign reached 842,000 users on Facebook and Twitter, with a good engagement rate of 2.3%.

4.    She noted another campaign which was a series of simple infographics informing residents which services were open or closed; as well as the ‘be ready and think ahead’ assets which were about supporting communities to be self-sufficient.

5.    She explained that the Nextdoor social networking app was becoming a very successful channel with high community engagement. Over 154,000 of Surrey’s residents were on it and many expressions of thanks had been received.

Dr Charlotte Canniff and Karen Brimacombe left the meeting at 3pm

6.    She highlighted the success of the daily data dashboards launched during the latest period of national restrictions. Data was presented in a bitesize and accessible way in which a bar chart showed the daily Covid-19 cases in Surrey and districts and boroughs over the last 7 days and month, as well as the rates, compared to the South East and England with trend arrows the change.

7.    She added that the daily data dashboards were distributed widely through the Multi-Agency Information Group (MIG), and the first dashboard had received positive feedback, it was an accessible way to explain the infection rates in schools, the engagement rate was over 20% on Facebook. Posts on Nextdoor were successful with nearly 66,000 impressions on Wednesday and it was encouraging to see residents responding to other residents’ queries.

8.    She summarised further activity such as the Director of Public Health’s (SCC) weekly slot on BBC Surrey, the joint Mole Valley Incident Management Team (IMT) - numbers were falling in Mole Valley so work needed to be done to understand the reasons - the weekly Top Lines Brief to Members was reinstated providing information to be shared with residents. That since the last Board there had been discussions on the lessons learnt in Elmbridge, and Surrey Together which was a hard copy magazine was to be launched on 30 November which contained collated information on Covid-19, Test and Trace, winter flu messaging, self-sufficiency, and hidden harms such as domestic abuse. An easy read option was available for the Surrey Minority Ethnic Forum and the Surrey Gypsy Traveller Communities Forum.

9.    The COVID-19 Communications Lead (SCC) summarised future activity in which the Communications team (SCC) was working closely with the Public Health team (SCC) on local contact tracing, the team was supporting NHS colleagues on mass testing and the mass vaccination programme and was examining the exit strategy in relation to the current national restrictions on 2 December 2020.

10.  The Chairman praised the positive communications activities.

11.  A Board member emphasised the importance of enforcement as although most residents responded positively to the restrictions, a minority were not responsive and so Surrey Police was there to enforce the law. In response the COVID-19 Communications Lead (SCC) explained that the police were a key partner and Surrey Police’s Digital Communications Manager sat on the weekly MIG.

12.  A Board member thanked the Communications team for its creativity and for looking at lessons learnt on how well residents had been prepared for Elmbridge’s escalation to Tier 2. She welcomed the positivity of the ‘2021 is in our hands’ campaign but questioned how residents were being prepared should 2021 not start positively. In response the COVID-19 Communications Lead (SCC) noted that the team was conscious of mass testing and the mass vaccination programme and the need for them to be embedded, noting the difficulty of preparing residents for future uncertainties. She stressed that compliance with the restrictions was key in order to stop the spread and move forward.

RESOLVED:

The Board noted the communications activity outlined in the report.

            Actions/further information to be provided:

None.