South West Health Protection Team

The South West Health Protection Team looks forward to working alongside early years and education settings for the coming school year to help you prevent and manage cases and outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Here are some useful updates and resources – please keep these links on your desktop so that you have quick and easy access to them when you need them:

• The ‘spotty book’ has now been replaced by national guidance Managing specific infectious diseases: A to Z – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)– this useful A-Z provides advice on how settings can manage specific infectious diseases by themselves, and also indicates when you should contact the SW Health Protection Team (SWHPT). Most infections can be safely and effectively managed by setting themselves so we highly recommend that you refer to this guidance before contacting the SWHPT.
• We recognise that the national guidance does not have everything that the old spotty book had, so the SW Health Protection Team has partnered with SW Councils to provide regional health protection resources – including a recording of the popular ‘health protection webinar’ that we run each half term, as well as posters, leaflets and a range of other resources on topics including Group A Strep, norovirus and respiratory infections. Take a look here: UKHSA Infection Protection and Winter Readiness and Control Toolkit for Early Years and Education Settings – South West Councils (swcouncils.gov.uk)
• The SW Health Protection Team will continue to run free Health Protection webinars aimed at providing early years and education colleagues with information about how to prevent and manage seasonal cases and outbreaks. The next sessions will run on 21 September 4-5pm and 16 November 4-5pm. You can book your place here: Health Protection in Early Years and Educational Settings Registration, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite