Communicating the future of contact tracing in Cheshire and Merseyside

Cheshire and Merseyside's Directors of Public Health, working together as the Champs Public Health Collaborative, have been awarded a significant investment to improve the already existing health protection and contract tracing infrastructure, which will allow for a robust and effective ongoing approach for managing outbreaks of COVID-19 (and other diseases) in schools, businesses and in the local community.

The aim of this work is to take a 'one team' approach to managing outbreaks of transmissible diseases, instead of nine local authority teams, Public Health England (now the UK Health Security Agency) and the national team operating separately within Cheshire and Merseyside. There will also be a pilot in one area of Cheshire and Merseyside to better support people to self-isolate when needed.