The need for local, timely and high-quality data and surveillance is a critical factor in helping the COVID-19 Health Protection Board make informed decisions.
Boards across the south west will work to an agreed dataset which enables transparency and consistency for data analysis, interpretation and comparison purposes.
The Department of Health and Social Care National Testing Programme, NHS Digital and NHSX are developing an interactive data dashboard which will be available for local use.
This data dashboard, alongside the data produced by the Joint Biosecurity Centre, and local data and intelligence will provide the COVID-19 Health Protection Board with the necessary timely data and surveillance information to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 and to work with the Team Devon Local Outbreak Engagement Board to engage with and communicate with the public.
Good communication will help us to strengthen the link between evidence and decision making, promoting openness and transparency, as part of the Smarter Devon Smarter Decision making work (see working principle 6 on Working together).
The agreement of local data flows, pathways and information sharing protocols is a main priority.