This report seeks approval for the extension of the enhanced Infection Prevention Control (IPC) service provided by Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, to maintain increased capacity within the specialist community team to continue to effectively support local settings, in responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

It is proposed to utilise Contain Outbreak Management Funding to extend the enhanced IPC Service to cover the period 1^st April 2022 - 31^st March 2023. The Community IPC contract with Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust will be varied to reflect the additional requirements.

This funding will provide continuity of service, whilst enabling a period of transition, to enhance skills and experience across providers and settings and develop a more sustainable high standard of IPC for the future.

This action supports the Wirral Plan 2021-26 theme, Active and Healthy Lives.

Resolved – That

the Director of Public Health approved additional Contain Outbreak Management Funding of £160,581.00 (1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023) to the substantive Wirral Community Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust Infection Prevention Control contract to sustain a continued enhanced level of support for settings, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Contain Outbreak Management Fund (COMF) was issued to Local Authorities for public health purposes in relation to COVID-19, to break the chain of transmission and protect the most vulnerable.  COMF has been used throughout the pandemic to bolster existing community IPC services, in order to protect the most vulnerable within our society. 

Local, regional and national data and surveillance show the continued prevalence of COVID-19 in our communities, and the clear ongoing risk to population health, particularly for the most vulnerable.  Following the publication of the national Living with COVID strategy in February 2022, we know IPC will continue to play a key role in protecting the population, and particularly the most vulnerable, from the effects of COVID-19 alongside other infectious diseases. 

Additional funding for IPC will ensure resources continue to be effectively utilised to support the management of COVID-19, in addition to ensuring resilience within the IPC service to maintain a system wide proactive and responsive approach, alongside the management of other infectious diseases, using lessons learnt from the last two years.

Extending this service reflects the ongoing need to support local settings with IPC support to prevent, control and manage the transmission of COVID-19, to protect the most vulnerable from the associated harms this causes to health, and prevent care system temporary closures due to infection control issues.  The alternative option considered was not to provide additional funding for IPC. It was felt this would not provide high risk settings with sufficient IPC resource capacity. Therefore, this option was not recommended.