Surrey SUMMARY PLAN COVID-19 Test and Trace - Local Outbreak Control Plan - Surrey County Council
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Surrey
Local Outbreak
Control Plan
COVID-19 Test and Trace
SUMMARY PLAN
22nd December 2020VERSION CONTROL
Document Control
Name of document Surrey Local Outbreak Control Plan COVID-19 Test and Trace – Summary
Plan
Version and date Version 9.0 - 22/12/2020
Owner SCC Local Outbreak Engagement Board
Author SCC Public Health Team (Ruth Hutchinson, Lisa Harvey-Vince, Tony Hill,
Richard Davis, Gail Hughes)
Next review due TBC
2|PageBackground
• The NHS Test and Trace service was launched on 28th May 2020 as part of the government’s
COVID-19 recovery strategy,
• Its primary objectives are to control the COVID-19 rate of reproduction (R), reduce the spread
of infection and save lives
• This will help return life to as normal as possible, for as many as people as possible, in a way
that is safe, protects our health and care systems and releases our economy.
• Achieving these objectives requires a co-ordinated effort with local government, NHS and
other relevant organisations at the centre of outbreak response
• Local authorities are required to work with partners to build on existing health protection
plans to put in place measures to identify and contain outbreaks and protect the public’s
health. Specifically, to develop a Local Outbreak Control Plan.
• National government funding has been provided to local authorities in England through the
Local Authority Test and Trace Service Support grant in June 2020, and the Contain Outbreak
Management Fund announced in October and extended in November 2020.
Purpose of this document
• The purpose of this document is to provide a summary of the main Local Outbreak Control
Plan that will be published at the end of June.
• It should be noted that the Local Outbreak Control Plan is a working document and will be
updated regularly to reflect changes required to ensure it remains up to date and can be
successfully executed during outbreaks.
Overview and Approach
• The Local Outbreak Control Plan is primarily about controlling outbreaks. However, preventing
spread of the virus is still critically important to prevent localised outbreaks and to avoid a
second wave of the pandemic. Surrey residents need to continue to follow national and local
guidance on staying at home if symptomatic: social distancing, washing hands, and using face
coverings in public places. A Communications Plan will address how to encourage the public
to follow this guidance.
• In Surrey this Local Outbreak Control Plan builds on existing health protection plans already
in place between Surrey County Council (SCC), Public Health England (PHE) South East (SE)
Surrey and Sussex Health Protection Team (HPT), the 11 Surrey District and Borough Council
Environmental Health Teams, Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care System (ICS), Frimley Health
and Care ICS, and Surrey Local Resilience Forum (LRF):
o Kent, Surrey, Sussex Public Health England Centre Outbreak/Incident Control Plan
(2014)
o Public Health England (PHE) Communicable Disease Outbreak Management: Opera-
tional Guidance (2013)
o Local Agreement between the Local Environmental Health Services of Surrey, East Sus-
sex, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove, and Public Health England South East Hors-
ham Health Protection Team (2019)
3|Pageo Surrey Local Health Resilience Partnership (LHRP) Memorandum of Understanding: Re-
sponsibilities for the Mobilisation of Health Resources to Support the Response to
Health Protection Outbreaks/Incidents in Surrey (2019)
o Surrey LRF Pandemic Influenza Plan (2019)
o Surrey LRF Emergency Response Plan (2019/20)
• The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has advised that the Local Outbreak Control
Plan is centred around 7 themes:
1. Planning for local outbreaks in care homes and schools (e.g. defining monitoring ar-
rangements, identifying potential scenarios and planning the required response).
2. Identifying and planning how to manage other high-risk places, locations and communi-
ties of interest including sheltered housing, dormitories for migrant workers, transport
access points (e.g. ports, airports), detained settings, rough sleepers etc (e.g. defining
preventative measures and outbreak management strategies).
3. Identifying methods for local testing to ensure a swift response that is accessible to the
entire population. This could include delivering tests to isolated individuals, establishing
local pop-up sites or hosting mobile testing units at high-risk locations (e.g. defining
how to prioritise and manage deployment).
4. Assessing local and regional contact tracing and infection control capability in complex
settings (e.g. Tier 1b) and the need for mutual aid (e.g. identifying specific local complex
communities of interest and settings, developing assumptions to estimate demand, de-
veloping options to scale capacity if needed).
5. Integrating national and local data and scenario planning through the Joint Biosecurity
Centre Playbook (e.g. data management planning including data security, data require-
ments including NHS linkages).
6. Supporting vulnerable local people to get help to self-isolate (e.g. encouraging neigh-
bours to offer support, identifying relevant community groups, planning how to co-ordi-
nate and deploy) and ensuring services meet the needs of diverse communities.
7. Establishing governance structures led by existing Covid-19 Health Protection Boards
and supported by existing Gold command forums and a new member-led Board to com-
municate with the general public.
Contact Tracing
• The national NHS Test and Trace service, which went live on Thursday 28th May, has been set
up to undertake contact tracing for COVID-19.
• Local Tracing Partnerships support the NHST Test and trace service and in Surrey this was
launched on 26th November 2020.
Triggering the Local Outbreak Control Plan
• The Local Outbreak Control Plan will be triggered where there are suspected or confirmed
COVID-19 outbreaks in any setting or community.
• The Kent, Surrey, Sussex Public Health England Centre Outbreak/Incident Control Plan defines
an outbreak as a greater than expected occurrence of an infection compared with the usual
background rate for that particular place and time.
4|Page• In the event of an identified outbreak and in line with PHE SE SOP - PHE-LA Joint Management
of COVID-19 Outbreaks in the SE of England, PHE will convene a multiagency Outbreak Control
Team (OCT) meeting to coordinate the partner response.
• For the majority of outbreak scenarios, local arrangements for outbreak management within
settings and local community spread will be effective, as has been the case during national
lockdown.
• On 14th October 2020, three new local COVID alert levels (medium, high and very high) were
introduced for England, which were superseded by national restrictions imposed on 5th No-
vember, which were subsequently replaced with Local restriction Tiers on 2nd December
2020. On 21st December 2020, Tier 4 was introduced for England. A postcode checker ena-
bles people to find the alert level for a specific local authority area with a link to information
on ‘what you can and cannot do’, and a full list of Tiers of Restrictions by area. There are also
posters available for the Tier 1 (Medium), Tier 2 (High), Tier 3 (Very High) and Tier 4 (Stay At
Home) areas, as well as detailed information for the public on what restrictions are in place
in each Tier.
• The Surrey escalation framework includes an overview of the arrangements at each Tier for
intelligence and data, triggers, notifications to partners, public communications and engage-
ment, Surrey Local Resilience Forum, Outbreak control, testing, welfare support, care
homes, education and childcare, and Enforcement (including prevention).
Legal Context
• The Local Outbreak Control Plan sets out the current legal context and specific legislation to
assist in the control of outbreaks
• On 17th July 2020 new Regulations extended the legal powers of local authorities to take steps
locally to manage outbreaks of COVID-19, including closure of premises, closure of public
outdoor spaces, and prevention of specific events.
Local Governance and Boards
• As part of the response Local authorities are required to establish two new boards:
o A public-facing board led by council members to communicate openly with the public.
The Surrey Local Outbreak Engagement Board (LOEB) has now been established.
o An operational group responsible for strategic oversight of health protection regarding
COVID-19 in Surrey. The Surrey COVID-19 Health Protection Operational Group (HPOG)
has now been established.
Communications and Engagement
• To date in Surrey, the response to COVID-19 has been coordinated through a Multi-Agency
Information Group (MIG), represented by all partner organisations in Surrey.
• This group will continue to lead the Communications response to COVID-19 and any
communications activities relating to the Local Outbreak Control Plan including:
o Targeted and wider public warning and informing messaging
o Communications campaigns pertaining to the latest Government advice and guidance
o Wider stakeholder communications and engagement about COVID-19 in general
5|PageData and Intelligence
• The Local Outbreak Control Plan sets out the arrangements, including national, regional and
local roles and responsibilities, for monitoring and reporting available testing and tracing data.
• This is used to identify and manage local outbreaks.
• This is based on existing data sharing and reporting arrangements, and includes the necessary
information governance protocols and arrangements.
Local Testing Capabilities
• There are testing arrangements already in place which will continue to be built upon.
• The Local Outbreak Control Plan covers the proposed response to emerging requirements e.g.
rapid deployment of mobile testing units to assist in the management of a local outbreak.
Supporting Vulnerable People
• Arrangements are currently in place to support vulnerable people isolating in their own
homes, or who are in a vulnerable group in another setting, and who have no other means of
support
Communities at a higher risk of infections and complications
• The plan also identifies groups and communities of people who are themselves at higher risk
of either becoming infected with COVID-19 or developing symptoms and complications.
• The following communities have been identified:
o Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME)
o Homeless
o Gypsy, Roma and Traveller
Specific High-Risk Settings
• National guidance specifically identifies care homes and schools as requiring outbreak
management plans.
• However, it is for Local Authorities and partners to identify other high-risk places and locations
in the main Local Outbreak Control Plan.
• The following settings have been identified:
o Care homes (Adults)
o Children’s Homes
o Educational Settings
o Prisons and other prescribed places of detention
o Other Workplaces including:
▪ Council (both Surrey County Council and District and Boroughs) owned premises –
offices/depots, libraries, leisure centres, day centres
6|Page▪ Private commercial premises – retail, offices, leisure service (clubs, gyms, hairdress-
ers/barbers, beauticians etc), indoor event venues (conference centres, theatres,
cinemas etc), outdoor event centres (racecourses, sport venues etc) catering estab-
lishments (pubs, restaurants, etc)
▪ Critical national infrastructure sites
o Major tourist attractions
o Faith settings
o Hospitals and Hospices
o Primary Care
o Mental Health and Community Trusts
o UK Ports of Entry and Transport Hubs– although not directly in Surrey, there are two
major airports close to the border.
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