The East Riding Health Protection team are part of the wider Public Health team and have priorities which align with those of the national UK Health Security Agency, these are:
- Be ready to respond to all hazards to health, including pandemics
- Improve health outcomes through vaccines and reduce vaccination inequalities
- Reduce the impact of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance
- Protect health from threats in the environment
- Improve action on health security through data and insight
- Continue to develop the health protection team as a high performing service to collaborate closely with UKHSA and whole system partners.
The Health Protection team’s annual report for 2023/24 can be viewed and downloaded below. Key components of the report include:
- Acute respiratory infections: The current situation of acute respiratory infections, such as influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus, from a local, regional and national perspective. Highlighting the impact of vaccination campaigns, infection prevention and control measures, and outbreak management on reducing morbidity and mortality.
- Gastrointestinal infections: Trends and challenges of gastrointestinal infections, such as diarrhoea and vomiting, norovirus, rotavirus, and cryptosporidium. The recognition of the importance of surveillance, notification, and collaboration among health, education, and care sectors to prevent and control outbreaks.
- Notifiable and infectious diseases: An overview of the main notifiable and infectious diseases that affect the population of East Riding of Yorkshire, such as measles, whooping cough, group A streptococcus, and tuberculosis. Outlining the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of these diseases, as well as the response to local outbreaks and incidents.
- Screening: the current performance and uptake of screening programmes for various health conditions, such as abdominal aortic aneurysm, cancer, antenatal, and newborn. Also, identifying the areas of improvement and the actions taken to increase screening coverage and reduce health inequalities.
- Immunisations and vaccinations: immunisation and vaccination programmes for different age groups and risk groups, such as measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), human papillomavirus (HPV), seasonal flu, and COVID-19. Analysis of the vaccination coverage and effectiveness in East Riding of Yorkshire and comparing against the national and regional averages.