Health Protection – start of the new term advice

Posted on 12 September 2024 in News and updates

The South West and Devon Health Protection Teams look forward to working alongside early years and education settings across the South-West for another school year to help prevent and manage cases and outbreaks of infectious diseases.

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

  • You may already know, but the infamous  ‘spotty book’ has now been replaced by national guidance Managing specific infectious diseases: A to Z – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) – this very useful A-Z list provides advice on how settings can manage specific infectious diseases by themselves, including specific advice around when children should not attend school due to specific infections, and also helps you know when you need to contact the SW Health Protection Team (SWHPT). Most infections you see in your settings can be safely and effective managed by the setting themselves, so we highly recommend that you refer to this guidance before contacting the SWHPT. Please find attached a poster linking to this guidance and a poster for parents with advice for common childhood illness around when their children should and should not stay at home
  • As we move towards winter, the SW Health Protection Team has partnered with SW Councils to provide additional regional health protection resources – these are focused on Infection prevention and control, vaccines and a range of topics including Group A Strep, norovirus/D&V and respiratory infections. You can find these resources here UKHSA Infection Protection and Winter Readiness and Control Toolkit for Early Years and Education Settings – South West Councils (swcouncils.gov.uk)
  • Devon County Council have worked with Torbay and Plymouth Public Health teams to refresh the infection prevention toolkit for schools and early years settings. We encourage settings to go through this at the start of the new school year
  • UKHSA are concerned about a possible back to school measles surge and have issued an urgent call to parents to ensure their children catch up on missed vaccinations – more information about this can be found here: UKHSA warns of back to school measles surge – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
  • Schools and early years settings are encouraged to support staff to access vaccinations they are eligible for. All staff should be encouraged to have two doses of MMR to protect against Measles, Mumps and Rubella. If staff are unsure if they have had two doses previously, this can be checked on the NHS app or via their GP practice. If vaccinations are needed, these can be accessed for free via their GP. As we head into the winter some staff will be eligible for flu and covid vaccinations and we encourage them to take these up to ensure they are protected.

Posters:

Training and webinars: