Agenda item

A communications and engagement strategy has been developed to support the Surrey Local Outbreak Control Plan. 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 including Operation Eagle.

Witnesses:

Andrea Newman - Director of Communications and Engagement (SCC)

Ruth Hutchinson - Director of Public Health (SCC)

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Director of Communications and Engagement (SCC) highlighted that:

·         The key areas of focus since the last Board included the national lockdown measures, Surrey surge testing, asymptomatic testing and the vaccination rollout.

·         The Council led on the communications response to the pandemic as the Public health authority, however that was done in partnership through the Surrey Local Resilience Form (LRF) and through communications teams across Surrey co-ordinating the Surrey-wide communications response via the Multi-Agency Information Group (MIG).

·         The primary objective had been to ensure that residents maintained a good level of understanding of national lockdown procedures and guidelines and noted the continued high levels of resident engagement through both digital and non-digital tactics.

·         The level of national and local media opportunities had increased which resulted in positive coverage of Surrey putting it in the spotlight regarding its response to the pandemic.

·         The most recent activity supported had been surge testing or Operation Eagle initially carried out in Woking - Egham followed on - and had moved at pace, being delivered within a few days. Residents were informed in advance about the operation and the decision was made to release a public news story on surge testing which resulted in an increased media interest in Surrey. The feedback on doorsteps was positive as residents understood what was happening and were impressed with the rapid responses of the LRF, the Council and Woking Borough Council.

·         Communications tactics and channels used around the surge testing included digital targeting such as through Google Display advertising, ad vans which provided high visibility, a video message of the Director of Public Health (SCC) which was shared across WhatsApp channels which was a useful learning tool from Leicester, through social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in which over 14,000 users were reached in Woking and over 12,000 in Egham; the use of Woking Borough Council’s electoral roll email to contact those in the affected area and again learning from Leicester, having a map quickly available for residents to be able to understand whether they were affected and there were 182,000 visits to the surge area map on the Council’s website.

·         Although there was a large amount of people involved in the surge testing logistically on the ground, communications and engagement had played a large role in influencing residents to take part in the voluntary exercise noting the 90% plus return rate in both Woking and Egham.

·         Regarding vaccination communications, Surrey Heartlands was leading on the communications through their colleagues with the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care.

·         Diverse communications channels included the Vaccination Communications Sub-group within the MIG to support health colleagues to ensure that there was consistency in messaging focussing around the three C’s, which was reducing complacency, boosting confidence in the vaccination rollout and promoting convenience.

·         Support was provided to the Equalities, Inclusion and Engagement Sub-group which was led by the Director of Public Health (SCC) with Surrey Heartlands, to really focus on boosting vaccine confidence particularly with those hard to reach groups. Successes included working closely with community faith leaders such as Woking’s Imam as well as working with the Public Health team (SCC) to identify Urdu speaking communities, a video had been shared in order to dispel myths around the vaccine contents and had reached 90% of Urdu speaking residents in Surrey.

·         It was nearly the year anniversary of the first Covid-19 case in Surrey so she had asked colleagues within the MIG to submit their engagement figures so that she could provide a collective high-level overview of engagement in Surrey achieved through partnership working since the start of the pandemic.

2.    A Board member thanked the Director of Communications and Engagement (SCC) as well as communications colleagues and key partners within the LRF for their work throughout the pandemic and particularly around the surge testing, noting the balance between the urgency and need to act swiftly with reassuring messages to residents. The success of engagement was demonstrated by the 90% return rate as opposed to the early predictions of 30% that Public Health England would have expected.

3.    A Board member asked what the results were regarding the surge testing to identify any cases of the South African variant, whether the results were in the public domain and if those who took the test knew their results on the variant. 

-       In response, the Director of Public Health (SCC) explained that there were two stages. The first stage was whether people tested positive or not as it was known that one in three people were asymptomatic and out of the 10,000 residents tested there were positive test results. As usual the Test and Trace system contacted those people with positive test results and that data was in public domain on the GOV.UK website and was divisible by ward. However, the second stage concerned the data on the variant and that data was only slowly emerging at a regional level with only minimal local level data and the data on the variant was not in the public domain - Directors of Public Health nationally continued to request that data to ascertain the spread of the variant and to feed that back to residents.

4.    A Board member joined in thanking the Director of Communications and Engagement (SCC), noting that the handling of the media frenzy around the surge testing in Surrey was impressive as well as the 90% return rate of tests which showed that there were good established engagement links with residents. As the asymptomatic testing had been delayed and was starting up again, she asked how the communications messaging on asymptomatic testing in three centres would be juggled alongside the communications messaging on the surge testing which had expanded into other areas in Surrey.

-       In response, the Director of Communications and Engagement (SCC) noted that asymptomatic testing was delayed for exactly that reason. The asymptomatic testing messaging such as through social media or digital advertising was specifically targeted to postcodes not in the affected areas for the surge testing particularly in Woking.

5.    The Chairman thanked the Director of Communications and Engagement (SCC) for her work and presentation and all those involved in Operation Eagle. 

RESOLVED:

The Board noted the activity outlined in the report.

            Actions/further information to be provided:

            None.