Minutes:
The Chair advised that an urgent question had been submitted in accordance with Corporate Procedure Rule CPR 11.4b.
QUESTION BY COUNCILLOR ROB JAMES TO COUNCILLOR GLYNOG DAVIES, CABINET MEMBER FOR EDUCATION AND WELSH LANGUAGE
“Can the Cabinet Member for Education provide an update to the rise of scarlet fever cases in our schools in the last week?”
Response by Councillor Glynog Davies – Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language:-
“Thank you very much Chair and thanks Rob for the question, this very timely question and extremely important question of course. To be honest, if there wasn’t a question I did intend to ask permission from the Chair to say a word about this. The Scarlett fever came to my attention first of all when I heard that there were many children in the local school in Brynaman suffering from Scarlet fever. This was a big concern for me as the Chair of Governors and also to the staff in the school. Over the last few weeks two dozen children in the school have suffered. Two of the children have had to have treatment in hospital and one is still in the Heath in Cardiff. Scarlet Fever, or Scarletina as it’s called, it’s a very very serious disease, it’s very infectious and it is caused by a bacteria, the group A streptococus bacteria, we are very familiar with the term ‘Strep A’. It’s spread very easily, direct contact with the person who is suffering from it or through the air, you know droplets in the air, you know coughing or sneezing – the disease is then spread. And of course, remember it can also be spread from using the same equipment or utensils as other people. The symptoms of scarlet fever is a rash that feels like sandpaper to touch; other symptoms include a high temperature, a flushed face and a red swollen tongue - you might have heard of ‘strawberry tongue’. Once diagnosed the treatment is quite simple and usually involves a course of penicillin antibiotics. Now one worry that’s been drawn to my attention I was speaking to a man, my son, who is a GP and there is shortage currently of antibiotics. Right, we have now cases in Carmarthenshire, I know that 5 schools that have been infected to varying degrees and some, as mentioned, have had to have hospital treatment. There are cases in many other counties, and we are working very closely with Public Health Wales. We are working with them and responding immediately to these cases. On Monday morning, our Headteachers were briefed on this very important matter, and we have shared an information letter provided by Public Health Wales about the symptoms and also how to respond. It’s very important that we do raise awareness about this; the staff in our schools are aware of this, and they are keeping an eye on the situation, looking out for children with a high temperature or have a sore throat or a rash. The message is to keep the individual who is suffering away from school for 24hrs after the start of the antibiotic treatment, it’s very important. Schools have to follow these guidelines which they have received, and we are working very closely with our schools. If there are two or more cases in the same setting within the school within a 10-day period the school would have to notify the health protection team for further guidance, they are available for them. And remember as well, what we did during the pandemic of course, we were very careful, we washed our hands regularly, so do this again. You know, don’t cough or sneeze openly; remember the slogan ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’, you know that is so important. This can, of course, prevent the spread of infection. A letter has been prepared by the Officers and has been sent to parents and carers; you know if they are concerned about anything the clear message is to contact your GP immediately and we will do everything in the education department to help as well. Public Health Wales are monitoring the situation very carefully so thank you once again for the question”.
Supplementary Question by Councillor Rob James:
“Do you believe there will be a case, where there is a high number of ‘STREP A’ cases in our school that we will engage with our Governing Body to see if we can increase our cleaning, as you say it’s a very infectious disease and cleanliness is obviously an important factor, so I’ll be interested to hear your input into that.”
Response by Councillor Glynog Davies – Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language:
“Yes a very very important point indeed Rob. We are monitoring the situation. That is what I can tell you at the moment and we are working closely with Public Health Wales. We are accepting guidance from them as to what we should be doing. If it becomes that severe then we might have to take a similar action as to what we did during the COVID pandemic. Currently that is not happening, but as I said we are listening, we are talking daily to Public Health Wales, and we are listening to them and receiving their guidance and we will obey whatever they tell us. Diolch Rob.”