The purpose of this report is to update the Health and Wellbeing Board on health protection system performance, achievements, and risks for 2024, as well as areas of development for 2025.

The Consultant in Public Health introduced the report and delivered the presentation 'Health Protection Assurance Forum Annual Report 2024', including slides on: role of the Health Protection Assurance Forum; 2024 Annual Report; strong or improving areas, plus illustrative examples; development areas, plus illustrative examples; and outline.

In response to a comment from the Chairperson about the harmful effects of synthetic opioids and contaminated drugs, an overview was provided of the work being undertaken by Turning Point, the Combatting Drugs Partnership, and the Drug Related Death Panel.  It was also reported that a Local Drug Information System (LDIS) had been launched recently to share information with partners and to issue alerts rapidly.

The Vice-Chairperson questioned the reasons for declining cervical cancer screening coverage.  The Director of Public Health, referencing work in another system, commented on some of the practical barriers, including those for older women and ethnic minority women, and the importance of understanding the issues and exploring the options available.

In response to a question about breast cancer screening, the Consultant in Public Health said that local screening coverage was relatively high before the coronavirus pandemic, had dipped during the pandemic, and was now moving back up towards pre-pandemic levels.

There was a brief discussion about media coverage of the struggles of well-known people with cancer which often resulted in higher numbers of people attending screenings.

The Chair of NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board said that the Chief Executive of NHS England has recently announced that women would be sent invitations for cancer screening via the NHS App, as part of a new ‘ping and book’ service.  The potential value of such innovations was noted, alongside the need to consider barriers to digital inclusion and explore opportunities to promote app use, including encouraging partner organisation employees to register.

The Chairperson suggested that mobile screening services could visit the more rural areas of the county, particularly to benefit people without access to a vehicle.

The Director of Public Health commented on the potential of home test kits to overcome barriers for certain types of cancer screening.

The Consultant in Public Health commented that the Health Protection Assurance Forum tried to learn from feedback from national issues.  Where solutions were already in place, but indicators were still declining, the forum could explore matters at a hyper local level; it was noted that the ongoing development of population health dashboards would assist with this.

Resolved:  That:

a)           The health protection system performance, achievements, and risks for 2024, as well as areas of focus for 2025 be noted; and

b)          The Health Protection Assurance Forum be encouraged to explore further the issues around cancer screening coverage.