15 February Gold Update from Andrew

Published: 15 February 2021

Prynhawn da pawb

Last week’s Gold meeting agenda was quite different to our usual order of business. In the spirit of learning and continuous improvement, we dedicated the first half hour to a ‘learning lessons debrief’. But before I get to the details of that discussion, I want to cover a few items, including confirming that this week, we have once again confirmed our organisational response level as Enhanced. This is in the context of a slowly improving epidemiological picture across the whole of Wales and across all age groups. Those improvements are slow however, and the decrease in cases is not as fast as we’d like.

On a positive note, I’m very pleased to report that as of today, Monday 15 February 2021, 1037 of our staff have been vaccinated. Our aim was to have vaccinated 945 front line staff by 15 February 2021 and I’m really pleased we’ve just about reached that target. We’ve reached the 50% threshold on groups 1 through 4 which means that we can start offering the vaccine to staff in groups 5 and 6. It’s therefore very important that staff update their risk assessments in ESR so that we can contact staff in those categories.  You can also contact CovidEnquiries@wales.nhs.uk requesting an appointment if you meet the criteria.

The Strategic IMT meeting heard last week that the target date set by Welsh Government for regions to have their incoming phone lines for the public set up is 1 April 2021. This will inform our outline model and workforce requirements for the next round of the operation plan and these plans will be shared with staff once they have been developed further.

As Huw wrote in his update from Gold last week, we took on the task of producing a framework document outlining the Welsh approach to identification and management of Variants and mutations of concern (VAMC). This document, produced at the request of the Chief Medical Officer for Wales promotes a tiered prevention approach. It sets out a measured, risk-based approach which reinforces the need to stick to tried and tested principles of communicable disease control. This document has now been submitted to Welsh Government for consideration and adoption.

Despite the frenetic pace we’re all working at, we felt it was imperative to stop and think about some of the lessons we’ve learned through the pandemic so far and what we can carry forward into the next phases. It was a rich discussion and I wanted to share just a few reflections and highlights.

Firstly, thinking about some of the things that have gone well, there was clear consensus that Public Health Wales should be extremely proud of the way we’ve consistently and transparently published surveillance data, ensuring timeliness and quality throughout. We can be proud too of the way in which we prepared the ground for roll-out of vaccination (including training, delivery and surveillance). Our Genomics work has been world-class and our engagement with media—both in English and Welsh language have been critical to keeping the public informed. There was also a clear recognition of the value of MS Teams in supporting our rapid shift to remote working from March 2020. This is just a short list of the achievements we’ve made together.

More than anything, all members of the Gold group agreed that the attitude, commitment and values of our staff have been one of the most incredible aspects of how Public Health Wales has responded to the pandemic.

Of course, there are elements that have been more challenging, for example times when our role hasn’t been clear in the system and we’ve taken on responsibilities beyond our normal remit. And whilst we’ve been agile in responding to the requests from Welsh Government, the group agreed that internally we have been slow in transitioning our governance between the various stages of the response (Silver - IMT - new IMT) and that sometimes our internal systems don’t talk to each other as we would want them to.

Learning lessons is about looking for opportunities to change and address the problems we know are holding us back. We also purposely spent some time looking forward in time to understand what some of the challenges are that we may face and how our learning can support this. Applying foresight as well as reflection is a key discipline in responding to challenging incidents of this nature.

As we move forward, we must build on the new ways of working that have emerged by necessity, build on the skills and knowledge that we’ve gained—both as individuals and as an organisation—and build too on the credibility and respect that we’ve gained as the national public health body for Wales.

As we do that, staff welfare has to be at the centre of our plans. This means making sure that we provide the right training and exercising opportunities for staff to retain the skills they’ve gained over the last year. It also means planning for the eventual demobilisation of staff, supporting individuals as they transition back to their substantive posts when the time comes.

What stands out for me throughout the whole of the pandemic response is the way that we have lived our values, working together, with trust and respect, to make a difference to the people of Wales. I remain extremely proud of the work our teams deliver day in and day out and grateful for your ongoing commitment.

Cofion caredig ac aros yn ddiogel ac yn iach.

Kind regards, and stay safe and well.

Andrew