PAPER C

FIRE AND PUBLIC SAFETY SELECT COMMITTEE – 14 APRIL 2003

Environmental Health – Out of hours service

REPORT OF Head of consumer Protection

REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

Members have recently requested information about the out of hours service operated by the Environmental Health Section of Consumer Protection and its relationship with Wightcare.

ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE

Members are invited to note this report and/or make recommendations about future development.

BACKGROUND

The present out of hours system has been in operation since January 1997. Prior to that there was a system which involved officers being on stand-by and working from home; they would be called at home at any time of night or during the weekends for any reason relating to Environmental Health. This system was unsatisfactory for the following reasons:

• The safety of officers was compromised because only one officer at a time was on call occasionally working long hours (this call out system was in addition to the normal working day) risking accidents.
• Disturbance to the officers’ families taking late night telephone calls.
• Intrusion into officers domestic life by being on stand-by.
• No satisfactory compensatory arrangements were in place.
• Non-urgent calls were having to be dealt with.

Based on information gathered from calls that were taken during the previous regime it was possible to devise a system that would be effective, acceptable to officers involved and concentrate the service in the periods where it was most needed.

Therefore a system was established whereby officers were asked to do a full shift on each Thursday, Friday and Saturday night (excluding Christmas and New Year) from 18:30 hours to 02:30 hours the following morning. They would work from the office at St. Nicholas and would be in a position to respond to any urgent calls and to carry out planned environmental health visits that could be done on an evening. A recent review of the demand on the night shift service has shown that there is no need to amend the working hours or days. The service currently receives four calls, on average, per night.

Under normal circumstances the night shift is manned by two officers (one EHO and one Technician). Although most of the urgent calls received during the night shift relate to noise, the officers are capable of dealing with other types of complaints as well. The format is that Wightcare take the calls and passes them on to the officers wherever they may be i.e. either directly to their office telephone or to the officers on site via their mobile telephones. The officers ensure that Wightcare are aware of their approximate whereabouts and they report to Wightcare whenever they leave or return to the office. The service also has an agreement with Police whereby Police Officers are called out to assist if Environmental Health staff consider that their presence may be necessary.

RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

The provision of this night service contributes to the Council’s vision of improving Island life and to the key objective of creating safe and crime free communities. The partnership working with the Police is particularly important in this aspect.

CONSULTATION PROCESS

No consultation exercise has been carried out relating specifically to the night service except by way of a recent review with the Police over our respective arrangements. That review suggested that no significant changes were necessary.

FINANCIAL, LEGAL, CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS

The cost of providing this service (at April 2003) is approximately £16,000 per annum.

It is an important part of the overall Environmental Health Service especially the Environmental Protection Section.

APPENDICES ATTACHED

None.

BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT

None.

Contact Point : Barrie Monks, Environmental Health Manager, F 01983 823151, email: [email protected]

ROB OWEN

HEAD OF CONSUMER PROTECTION