Coronavirus: Peterborough and Cambridgeshire councils ‘reviewing plans for essential services’

There are fears that local authorities will struggle to cope with the rising number of confirmed cases of the virus, with concerns over potential staff shortages and rising demand for adult social care services.

Rubbish collections may also be impacted, it has been suggested.

Six people in the UK have so far died from coronavirus with a total of 373 positive cases, including one in Cambridgeshire, while the peak of the outbreak is expected to start within the next fortnight.

At that point, all people with symptoms are expected to be asked to self-isolate.

Asked by the Peterborough Telegraph what measures it is taking to respond to the coronavirus threat, a spokesman for Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council said: “We are reviewing all our business continuity plans to make sure that our plans for continuing to provide essential services in the light of any emergency situation are as robust as possible.

“We have reviewed our office cleaning regimes; we are updating HR advice and guidance in line with national information; and we are reminding all staff of the need to take note of the national advice on observing good hygiene such as washing their hands frequently with soap and hot water and coughing or sneezing into tissues, which they then immediately dispose of into closed bins.”

Asked if staff have been encouraged to work from home, he added: “We are still in the containment phase of the situation and as such are following the national advice which is currently not advising large scale working from home, the cancellation of mass participation events or limiting personal contact (such as shaking hands).

“We are keeping this advice under review.”

Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Community Wellbeing Board for the Local Government Association, the national membership body for local authorities, said: “A widespread coronavirus epidemic across the country would inevitably have an impact on the wide range of services councils provide and communities rely on. As always, they will follow the expert advice from our directors of public health, Public Health England and the chief medical officer.

“Councils are aware that residents will have concerns for vulnerable family and friends if this virus spreads further. They have plans in place for every possible scenario, for example if large numbers of key workers are off sick at one time or schools are closed, or if extraordinary containment or delay measures are recommended by the Government.

“This includes looking at how they could best use their staff and mobilise resources to continue supporting the most vulnerable and mitigate against the inevitable disruption to other important services, such as bin collections and street cleaning.

“If the virus spreads further, demand for adult social care services will rise due to increased illness among those who use these services, as well as reduced capacity as social care staff fall ill themselves.

“This could be further impacted by hospitals needing to discharge people even sooner than at present owing to the pressures on them, as well as other factors such as school closures or transport restrictions.

“With local partners, councils have also been looking at changes to the process around how deaths are managed as part of their emergency planning, as they have done for previous major incidents, such as the swine flu outbreak.

“Public health services have seen funding reduced by £700 million in real terms over the past five years and are still in the dark about the amount of funding they will have from April.

“The public health grant has to be published by the Government with the utmost urgency and the upcoming Budget needs to ensure councils receive the immediate financial support they need to match that offered to the NHS to deal with coronavirus.

“Councils need adequate resources and funding certainty to not only cope with this immediate coronavirus crisis but to continue providing other vital public health services for the long term, such as those tackling teenage pregnancy, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, sexually transmitted infections and substance misuse.”

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