Author: Peacock Carter

The Food Standards Agency has launched a consultation on the Review of the Food Law Code of Practice (England).

The consultation on proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice (England), Food Law Practice Guidance (England), and implementation of the FSA Knowledge and skills for the effective delivery of official food and feed controls and other activities (Competency Framework), can be found on the FSA website. Closing date for responses is midnight Thursday 10 December 2020 to CodeReviewResponses@food.gov.uk.

The Northern Ireland Code, and the Practice Guidance are subject to a separate but similar consultation.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting small and medium-sized Scottish businesses to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions. Its interest-free SME Loan Scheme has already provided Scottish businesses with over £26 million in loans for over 1,000 energy saving projects. 

Now, for a limited time only, businesses using the interest-free loan can also grab a cashback grant of up to £20,000.

For full details and to take advantage while funds last, call Zero Waste Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Business Support team on 0808 808 2268 or visit website. 

ASH Scotland is presenting an online Learning Festival with the Scottish Tobacco-free Alliance, in the week beginning Monday 30th November. The SCOT coalition keeps a focus on joining up on intelligence and influence, while the STA majors on information sharing and cross sectoral networking – both networks offer free membership and these online events are free to join, you’ll find programme and registration details here.

The Scottish Government has published Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 (CAFS2) for consultation. 

The new clean air strategy for Scotland that builds on the progress made since the introduction of Cleaner Air for Scotland: The Road to a Healthier Future (CAFS) published in 2015.

The proposals in the consultation have been shaped by the work of an independent panel of experts which was commissioned by the Scottish Government in November 2018.  

The draft five-year Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy follows the recent Programme for Government, which set out a number of actions being taken forward to ensure a green recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, prioritising support for health, wellbeing and tackling climate change.

The strategy proposes a set of actions to further reduce air pollution and improve air quality for the benefit of Scotland's population and the environment including:

• taking forward potential measures to control the supply of the most polluting domestic fuels, including wet wood and house coal
• work with the agriculture sector to develop a voluntary code of good practice to help reduce emission of air pollutants
• a new approach to public engagement and behaviour change in relation to air quality
• a continued shift to more sustainable transport modes as set out in the National Transport Strategy

The consultation will last for 12 weeks and a number of stakeholder events to engage directly with the relevant sectors are planned.

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said:

“The air that we breathe is fundamental to human life and the quality of our environment. It should protect and enhance our health and wellbeing. Despite the undoubted improvements in air quality over recent years, there is more we can, and must, do.

“The proposals set out in this strategy are essential if we are to ensure Scotland has the best air quality in Europe.

“Since our original Cleaner Air For Scotland strategy was published five years ago, we have introduced some of the most ambitious climate change legislation in the world, published our Environment Strategy, updated our National Transport Strategy with an emphasis on greener travel and began the introduction of Low Emission Zones.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that it is more important than ever that we design a better future and a more sustainable, green economy which will better support our communities health and environment as we head for net zero by 2045.

“So I would encourage people and organisations to engage in this consultation and work together for a better, cleaner future for our planet, this generation – and those to come.”

Rosemary Davidson, REHIS Course Presenter, discusses how training has had to adapt to be online and also talks about her contact tracing role with NHS.

1.         Describe you work before the pandemic? 

My work before the pandemic had two main strands, the first being delivery and organisation of REHIS food hygiene training at all four levels from Introduction to Food Hygiene up to Advanced Diploma for our partnership business with Christine Fraser. This was a mixture of face-to-face delivery to a mixture of mainly Tayside clients and elearning to many varied clients spread across Scotland.

My second role was as a public health nutrition adviser (PT) with NHS Tayside. This varied role encompassed developing and delivering REHIS nutrition and other training to staff and community workers, developing and reviewing nutrition resources and working with staff involved with the Health Promoting Health Service, Healthy Living Award and Healthcare Retail Standard. I was also involved with work looking at improving the diet of the community through cooking classes and introduction of Menucal to local businesses. 

2.         What have you been doing since the pandemic started? 

Since pandemic, face-to-face training has not taken place and I feel organisations may not be able to go back to this method of delivery for some time (if at all). Many have had to adapt in lots of ways and elearning for training may be the way forward for many. Initially businesses had other priorities and are still finding it very difficult, but some have started to consider elearning recently.

My work within the NHS and partner agencies practically stopped as projects and training were put on hold. Staff were redeployed or had other priorities. Virtual meetings became the norm.

As a member of Public Health staff we were asked to work with the department on NHS Scotland Test & Protect to carry out contact tracing. Many hours of training were completed before we could start taking calls from index cases and communicating with contacts. In August a new and improved case management system (CMS) platform was launched and further online training was required on this new version.  

3.         What are/were the challenges? 

Initially we were not in demand for contact tracing and it was difficult to build up experience. When the new CMS was launched we tried to gain experience where possible to fulfil our new role. As demand increased I became fully involved with contact tracing for all of my hours, plus extra shifts when required. It is a demanding but interesting role as I’ve been working with many new staff from different areas of the NHS and other agencies.  New skills have been developed both for the investigative, reporting and people skills required for contact tracing but also communication as supervising other contact tracers, providing support for new staff and use of the ever evolving case management system and contact tracing developments.

4.         Do you think any of these changes will last beyond the pandemic period? 

I think elearning will increase in popularity and hopefully training will become a priority again. Virtual meetings and conferences will be here to stay. 

Hopefully, as new contact tracing staff are employed I may be able to resume at least some of my previous NHS nutrition remit, but I have enjoyed this temporary change of role.

Hazel Stevenson, Environmental Health Manager at Aberdeen City Council COVID-diary contribution accounts the incredible work carried out by the COVID-19 Expert Officers Group and also then answers questions on how her role at the local authority has changed.

The Work of the ETC19 Group

On the declaration of the public health coronavirus emergency, the Scottish Government introduced the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (‘the Covid Regs’). It was obvious that this would fall to local authority Environmental Health and Trading Standards services to enforce. Discussions took place between the Chairs of Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland (SoCOEHS) and Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards Scotland (SCOTSS) to agree the best way forward. 

In order to best coordinate our collective response to this duty, it was agreed that the way forward was to form an expert officers’ group who would lead on the interpretation of the regulations and guidance to ensure the consistency of application across Scotland.    

Within a week the ETC19 Group (Environmental Health and Trading Standards COVID-19 Group) was formed, I was invited to be a member and it met for the first time on 3rd April 2020. To date we continue to meet twice weekly.

Clearly this work could not be accomplished without involvement and cooperation of the other agencies involved in this response and so representatives from Police Scotland and HSE, as well as Scottish Government were invited to join.

Thematic subgroups were organised to respond to the demands placed on the group. These covered opinions and supporting information to local authorities; interpretation of the COVID Regs and Guidance; and establishing enforcement process, data sets and safe working practices guidance. 

Early success included:

• Established the ‘Explain, Engage, Encourage and Enforce’ enforcement policy, agreed by all 32 Scottish local authorities and consistent with the approach adopted by Police Scotland
• Agreed with Police Scotland how the duties set out under the regulations would be addressed by local authorities and Police Scotland
• Agreed the demarcation of business sites with the Health & Safety Executive and local authority Environmental Health teams
• Development of nationally agreed template for Prohibition Notices
• Established working relationships with Scottish Government on various groups to progress policy and guidance for business
• Agreed a suite of data sets which could be used to inform the Scottish Government and elected members of the levels of compliance work being carried out across Scotland  

The group immediately started to consider questions from local authorities and began producing FAQs which were circulated to all authorities and hosted, until recently, on the SCOTSS COVID web page. Where it is not possible to provide a response, the questions are fed back to the appropriate division of government to address. 

With every COVID Regs amendment or new piece of legislation, comes an interpretation from the ETC19 Group as to what this means and what it changes in terms of enforcement. This advice is circulated and used by all authorities.       

The agreed datasets quantifying the compliance assessment, business advice and reactive complaint work carried out by local authorities. It is collected on a fortnightly basis, complied, and published. They are also reported directly to the Scottish Government.

The group has been able to engage with the Scottish Government and address issues identified by enforcement officers and feed into and influence the thinking of government as the emergency has evolved. To do this the group established links with the various divisions within government that draft amendment regulations and the various pieces of sectoral guidance. 

 The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Directions by Local Authorities) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 came into force on 28th August, followed by The Health protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 on 14th September. Once again, the ETC19 Group has been providing coordination and consistency of interpretation of these new regulations. A subgroup was formed to address this and produce enforcement guidance and interpretation and templates for Direction and Prohibition Notices for use.

The group continues to focus on issues around interpretation of amendments to the regulations and statutory guidance, as well as answer questions from local authorities on local issues and original compliance scenarios which require analysis.

The ETC19 group was recently nominated for and awarded an ‘Outstanding Team Contribution’ award in the CTSi Hero Awards 2020.

My involvement of the group has provided a unique opportunity to work with colleagues from different sides of the regulatory landscape and understand their perspective on compliance.  At the same time, it has also offered a unique professional development opportunity, whilst being a challenging and enjoyable experience.

1.         Describe you work before the pandemic? 

My job title is Environmental Health Manager, which broadly entailed the delivery and overseeing of the Environmental Health duties within my Local Authority.

2.         What have you been doing since the pandemic started? 

I still have the same job, however, have also had additional duties.  At the beginning of the pandemic I was tasked with leading on the excess deaths across Grampian.  This included working with the three local authorities within this area as well as other external partners such as NHS, funeral directors, Police Scotland etc. I was also responsible for giving updates and assurance to the Grampian Local Resilience Partnership COVID-19.

I have been a member of the ETC19 Group since the issue of the first set of COVID regulations for businesses.

During the Aberdeen local lockdown I had to lead and ensure resource to provide the assurance visits of all hospitality premises which was required before lifting of the restrictions.  This was done jointly with my colleagues in Trading Standards.  I have continued ensure there is necessary resource to carry out all duties under the COVID regulations, compliance visits and complaints received.

3.         What are/were the challenges? 

Initially technology was a huge challenge, this is now greatly improved. As a manager the challenge is ensuring all staff feel supported and included as we have been home working since March with no access to the office.  

4.         Do you think any of these changes will last beyond the pandemic period? 

I think resource will always remain a challenge, there will be new challenges with some of the current ones remaining, it is clear that we will not go back to how things were pre -pandemic and this brings with it many positive and negative points.

With the opportunities to conduct the standard visits to Training Centres delivering the REHIS Community courses being restricted at present, the Training Advisers role has had to adapt to doing some virtual audits.

A high proportion of courses currently registered are being delivered via the “Zoom” platform. Not having the face to face usual interaction with their candidates has given REHIS course Presenters “food for thought” in terms of how to deliver a syllabus, make it interesting, relevant and meaningful using a virtual platform. The Training Advisers have been impressed so far with the way in which the Presenters have adapted, by delivering the sessions over more frequent but shorter times (still in compliance with the minimum hours) and using a full range of resources e.g. video, PowerPoint etc.

One resource being used very effectively is “Google Classroom” – a virtual classroom which can host a myriad of resources e.g. syllabi, notes, exercises etc. This resource is particularly useful with the Intermediate and Advanced courses where candidates can visit the classroom virtually, for self-study, revision or to submit course work.

When it comes to the exam, the expected standards are still being adhered to with live invigilation through web cameras. We commend the Training Centres at their ability to adapt, yet maintain effective and quality assured courses.

On 9 October the Scottish Government published legislation to introduce temporary restrictions to help reduce the spread of the virus. The Regulations partially came into force at 6pm on Friday, 9 October and fully came into force on Saturday, 10 October.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Additional Temporary Measures) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 imposed a variety of restrictions (detailed below) for Nationwide and also additional ones for the central belt. 

The Scottish Government has designated Environmental Health Officers to define and enforce the legislation by providing guidance to businesses and monitoring compliance with the new restrictions. 

There has been some perceived frustration about lack of clarity over the exemptions of cafes – which are being allowed to stay open even in the central belt during the day as long as they don’t serve alcohol. The Regulations define a café as “An establishment whose primary business activity, in the ordinary course of its business, is the sale of non-alcoholic drinks, snacks or light meals.”

The Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on 9 October stated that “I think business owners will know whether their establishment fits that definition or not. But any doubts or questions that any have should be discussed with local environmental health authorities.” 

In addition, during an interview with BBC Scotland the radio host asked Professor Jason Leitch, the Scottish Government’s National Clinical Director what the difference was between a café and a restaurant and to which he responsed "Local authorities will have to make those judgements of course, and environmental health officers are one of the ways of making that judgement.”

Therefore, to deal with enquiries Local Authorities in the central belt have set up dedicated email accounts for premises seeking clarification about whether they can continue to operate as a licensed café and also have been involved with enforcing compliance requiring restaurants to close. 

The new restrictions 

Nationwide (excepting central belt areas):

• Hospitality (food and drink): all premises may only open indoors between 6am and 6pm, with no sales of alcohol
• Hospitality (food and drink): premises may open outdoors until 10pm, with sales of alcohol (where licensed)
• Takeaways (including from pubs and restaurants) can continue
• Evening meals may be served in accommodation for residents only but no alcohol can be served
• Current meeting rules, maximum of six people from two households, continue to apply
• Specific life events, such as weddings and funerals, may continue with alcohol being served, with current meeting rules for these events (20 person limit in regulated premises only)

Central belt area focusing on five health board areas (Ayrshire & Arran; Forth Valley; Greater Glasgow & Clyde; Lanarkshire; Lothian):

• Licensed restaurant premises will be required to close, with the exception of takeaway services
• Cafés (unlicensed and licensed premises) will be able to open between 6am and 6pm provide a food and non-alcohol beverage service
• Takeaways (including from pubs and restaurants) can continue
• Evening meals may be served in accommodation for residents only but no alcohol can be served
• Specific life events, such as weddings and funerals, may continue with alcohol, with current meeting rules for these events (20 person limit in regulated premises only)
• No group exercise classes for indoor gyms and sports courts, pools with an exemption for under 18s
• No adult (18+) contact sports or training, except professional sports, indoor or outdoor
• No outdoor live events
• Snooker/pool halls, indoor bowling, casinos and bingo halls are to close
• Public transport use should be minimised as much as possible, such as for education and work, where it cannot be done from home
• Current meeting rules, maximum of six people from two households, continue to apply

The Institute are saddened to hear of the passing of George Brechin, OBE. Mr Brechin was a great supporter of the Institute and was known to many.

Mr Brechin was a Board member at the Health & Safety Executive, the Chair of the HSE’s board has paid tribute here and also a Board member of Food Standards Scotland, Chair of the FSS board has paid tribute here.

Mr Brechin was also a Chair of the Scottish Teachers’ Pension Board, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and was interim Chief Executive of the State Hospitals Board until 2015.

Mr Brechin will be sadly missed by the Environmental Health community and our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues in all the organisations in which he served. 

On 23 October at the Coronavirus (COVID-19) update the First Minister's announced Scotland’s strategic framework which considers new powers for Environmental Health Officers. 

The five-level framework indicates different levels of protection that might be needed based on different levels of transmission for the virus. It will allow for rapid but proportionate responses on both a local and national basis using a transparent range of measures and options.

The framework states the Scottish Government have used the current period of additional protective measures to review the current fine levels associated with offences under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Scotland regulations. These will be kept under review as we move to the new protection levels approach and will consider whether it is appropriate to increase the fine level. 

In addition, the Scottish Government are exploring conferring additional enforcement powers on Environmental Health Officers and Trading Standards Officers, building on direction-making powers put in place earlier this year, to support their intelligence-led approach to enforcement. 

The framework will comprise five protection levels. ‘Level 0’ is effectively the same level of protection as the Route Map Phase 3 measures Scotland reached in August and will act as a baseline, with four levels above that designed to apply increasing protection from the virus in areas according to prevalence, the risk to. communities and the need to protect the NHS.

Levels 1, 2 and 3 will be broadly equivalent to the UK Government levels to offer some uniformity with measures south of the border. Levels will be reviewed on a regular basis.

Ongoing financial support is set out in the framework and will be available to businesses which are required to close or which can remain open but will be directly affected by restrictions. The Scottish Government will work with local authorities to ensure grants are made available quickly and efficiently.

In the coming days the Scottish Government will engage with local government, stakeholders, economic groups and other partners, prior to a final version of the strategic framework being debated in parliament on Tuesday (27 October).

Further details on which local authority areas of Scotland will fall under which levels will be announced following discussions with directors of public health and local authorities, taking on board recommendations from the national incident management team, before coming into force on 2 November

Lisa McCann, Service Manager – Environmental Health (Food & Workplace Safety), Fife Council and President of REHIS Council, discusses how both her roles have adapted and how she hopes that positive changes made with hygiene continues into the future.

1.         Describe your work before the pandemic? 

Before the pandemic, I had not long taken up the role of President of the Institute at the 2019 AGM. I was involved in various REHIS Council meetings, Committees and working groups, as well as various forums related to my role as REHIS Council Member with responsibility for Occupational Health & Safety matters. 

Part of the role of President is to work closely with the Chief Executive who is responsible for the day to day running of the Institute, including the office and staff. A significant task that started and continued in to lockdown was the recruitment of a new Chief Executive after Tom Bell announced he would be stepping down from his role at the end of March 2020.  Work was also well underway on the 2020 REHIS Annual forum, which was sadly cancelled due to the restrictions of the pandemic.

In my role as a Service Manager for the Environmental Health (Food & Workplace Safety) Team at Fife Council, I have responsibility for managing a team of Environmental Health Officers, Food Safety Officers, Enforcement Officers and others, undertaking activities related to food safety, health and safety, port health, waste duty of care and communicable diseases.

2.         What have you been doing since the pandemic started? 

Where to start? …In terms of the Institute, I supported the then acting Chief Executive in her work to get the REHIS office working remotely. This included meetings of the REHIS Council, Committees and Working Groups which have all gone virtual. It did not stop there, work is ongoing to help our Approved Training Centres to teach remotely and at present in a blended fashion, where the route map and current restrictions allow. 

There were also difficult decisions to be made in regard to finance. As with all organisations, the Institute has felt the impact of the global pandemic and subsequent restrictions resulting in the sad, difficult decision to place the majority of REHIS staff on furlough.  Staff are in the process of returning to the office in a limited fashion to cover the key activities and tasks of the REHIS office. I would dearly like to thank all of our staff for their hard work, understanding and support in these unprecedented times. 

One piece of positive news was that Jackie McCabe was appointed to the role of Chief Executive as of 1 September 2020 following a successful recruitment campaign.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Northern Centre’s AGM which was held virtually using MS Teams.  Many thanks to the Northern Centre for the invite to join them, it was a lovely opportunity to engage with members, which has been a rare occurrence in 2020.  All going well, I plan to attend the Southern Centre’s AGM later today. 

In a more Covid specific role, I continue to sit on a number of different groups representing the Institute and Environmental Health, and maintain dialogue with various agencies and organisations. This includes the joint Environmental Health and Trading Standards Covid Expert Panel, Scottish Government Working Groups, PHASS (Partnership on Health and Safety in Scotland), HSE and HELA. These all contribute to the collaborative efforts in tackling the Covid pandemic and its impacts. 

These groups give a bridge to my day job. I can safely say, along with many others, that my role as a Service Manager in Environmental Health is nowhere near the same as it was at the start of 2020. Understandably, the focus of the work activity relates to Covid19.  This work continues to evolve as we learn more and move through the Scottish Governments Route Map, and particularly with the recent restrictions announced by the First Minister a couple of days ago on the 22 September.

From the end of February, I have supported and continue to support Fife Council and NHS Fife in their activities to combat Covid through the established forums of Incident Management Teams (IMTs) and associated STAC – Scientific Technical Advisory Cell. This is in addition to work of the working groups, providing advice from an environmental health perspective to various colleagues across the organisations. 

Information for Fife Businesses was published on the Council website and, along with our Trading Standards colleagues, we have undertaken a mix of proactive and reactive interventions with local businesses.

We have provided support for the local NHS Fife Test & Protect Team including through the secondment of Officers. This has proven to be beneficial to both organisations, especially recently due to the reported daily increase in Covid cases. This has resulted in a rapidly increasing workload consisting of NHS led Problem Assessment Groups and/or Incident Management Team Meetings and following up setting referrals. 

Setting referrals are notifications of premises that have been associated with positive cases. When these are received, they are triaged, and officers either follow up remotely or if required with a physical visit. When visiting, officers must follow risk assessments and safe systems of work.

The other work of Environmental Health has not gone away, while some work is currently paused, responding to complaints, concerns and various applications are triaged and actioned accordingly. The upcoming Brexit challenge as the transition period ends at the end of the year is also never far from my mind, and I’m sure this is the same for many others working in Environmental Health.

3.         What are/were the challenges? 

These definitely included technology and the sudden move to home-based working. These have been largely worked through, and the world of virtual meetings is well established with most people and organisations adapting quickly. It now wouldn’t be a meeting if you don’t hear, ‘you are on mute’ and ‘sorry legacy hand’ in a MS Teams meeting.  I have also had very interesting conversations with children of team members and helped celebrate important milestones such as losing teeth and the tooth fairy visiting. I’m sure some just look for an excuse to use their mum’s (or dad’s) laptop, but it does bring some much-needed light hearted moments to the working day.

The major challenge for me is not a new one, but the current pandemic puts a spotlight on it. It is one of resources, and in particular Environmental Health Officers and Food Safety Officers. Before the pandemic, the Institute, the Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland and others had been actively looking at solutions. This work is ongoing and will help going forward but unfortunately there is not a 'quick fix'.  It was pleasing to hear the Scottish Government commitment to support local authorities for additional environmental health staff, as referred in the Institute’s statement of 23 September 2020.

4.         Do you think any of these changes will last beyond the pandemic period? 

Changes that I hope will last beyond the pandemic period include the positives that have come out of these unprecedented times.  These include better, quicker collaborative working, improved virtual working and that, for most part, you can work from home. However, for the latter my thoughts is that a more balanced and blended approach is what is needed, to get the benefits of both home working and the work environment,  promoting and maintaining team spirt. 

As an EHO I also hope the improved hand and respiratory hygiene practices stick and become everyday habits for everyone well into the future. 

Tim Lush, Environmental Health Officer at Glasgow City Council, has been working on the Contact Tracing team for NHS Test and Protect. His contribution gives an insight into the role of contact tracing which is becoming more difficult with rise in cases but also increasingly important in combating the pandemic.

1.         Describe your work before the pandemic? 

Before the pandemic is a difficult time to pinpoint, given how the transition was rapid, but gradual.  Before the lockdown I was primarily focusing on food hygiene inspections in the Govanhill area of Glasgow, as well as becoming more involved in the inspection of approved premises.

I recall my last inspection before lockdown was a revisit on 19th March 2020, so four days before lockdown officially commenced.  I remember the date so well because it was Gold Cup Day, and the premises I inspected was described as a ‘sports bar’.  At 11am, this bar could have been any other pub in town at 11pm on a Friday evening.  Even before I entered, I noticed from the outside the condensation forming on the windows.  Inside, there wasn’t even any standing room left, and people pressed up against each other at the bar, waiting for their pint.  I recall holding my breath as I hurried past everyone and straight into the kitchen, and after the inspection asked to exit from the back door to avoid passing the crowd. 

2.         What have you been doing since the pandemic started? 

The first few months post-lockdown were all a blur.  Apart from listening to the radio for news of a potential vaccine, therapeutics, testing capacity, antibody test developments or latest in job retention efforts, work was limited due to the mass lockdown of pubs and restaurants.  There were service requests to be resolved with phone calls, or intelligence being received which I was able to feed into our database.  

Work on a PPE prioritisation programme started once the dust had settled. The idea was to allocate council PPE to different services, based on their risk.  This was at a time where face masks and hand sanitiser were at a premium, with shops limiting how much you could buy, so such a programme was essential.  We managed to achieve this through an excel algorithm, which ensured that those in highest risk jobs were prioritised. 

The call then came for contact tracers, and myself and five others were asked to join the NHS until an initial period ending in September.  

Like any new programme of work there has been a steep learning curve and as the NHS Public Health teams have become more familiar with the work of EHO’s this work has developed.  

Initially, we were contacted by contact tracers, given a case reference number and asked to review a case, with little other information.  Over time, the information shared has developed and this has allowed for more efficient working.  I would find myself on the phone for an hour with a business, verifying what control measures were in place to prevent spread.  During the time I was on the phone, another two cases ‘for review’ would then be sent to me.  For a number of weeks, I was barely finishing before 9pm.  

As cases exponentially rose, more effective means of recording and monitoring relevant data have been implemented.  Most recently, we have been working with the NHS to establish a standard operating procedure, or list of questions, for when a hospitality setting is mentioned and ensuring all those involved in contact tracing receive the appropriate training on the questions to ask.

3.         What are/were the challenges? 

There are inherent challenges with training new staff but this would commonly involve fully trained people training new people.  In this case, the contact tracing system for Covid was new and everyone is learning on the job, while setting up new systems.

The nature of viral infection adds its own challenges, for example, if a person goes for a meal on a Saturday, then develops symptoms on Monday, has a test on Tuesday which returns on Wednesday, then we are already five days down the road by the time a call to that person has been made.

The biggest challenge in Glasgow has been how to handle a mass surge in cases, and this is best done through data analytics, which can then focus our attention.  

While it has been a challenging time, it is interesting to see, and be a part of a new, evolving system.

4.         Do you think any of these changes will last beyond the pandemic period? 

As all involved become more experienced with the systems and more efficient in responses to those receiving a positive result, the process, in relation to establishing and contacting contacts, will be streamlined.

Currently there does not seem an end to the pandemic and I feel, for now, it is just about improving, and everyone becoming efficient with, our procedures in order to limit the spread of the virus.