Measles is back – cases have been confirmed  locally in BSol – Treat measles as a key and current  risk for BSol children.

As of today we have got 14 cases.in Birmingham and Solihull. Only one of the cases was partially vaccinated. The remainder of the confirmed cases were not vaccinated. One reception year school is affected.

We are asking that staff please use this leaflet to issue to parents of children and young people to help improve the awareness of the risks of catching measles as part of their everyday interactions..

We consider this leaflet to contain the common narrative on measles  from the NHS to parents.

We understand that you may want to simplify the message onto a shorter message handout for your services. This is fine, although please stick to the integrity of the message so that we are all conveying the same information at a time of heightened risk. We would also encourage partners to deliver tailored cultural changes..

We all need to be aware of and disseminating this information across your services and at every interaction with parents. Having a leaflet to read is sometimes helpful to avoid a potentially confrontational conversation.

Be vigilant – assume a case could be measles rather than thinking it isn’t,  as we all need to protect our staff. If exposure occurs  transmission can occur within only 15 minutes of contact with an infected individual so please use appropriate PPE..

Please also remember to notify UKHSA of any possible and confirmed cases as soon as possible and collect relevant contact information and MMR vaccination history as well as the registered GP. Any delays in notification, risk increases in transmission. It is a notifiable disease. We have had a case where this did not take place and our system risk increased significantly.

Please share with any other key groups such as Health Protection Boards and other relevant parties

We are also doing three videos:

• General  Measles outline
• One specifically for MMR
• One for  COVID and Flu

We have scripts and volunteers for the filming – we are going to agree the dates with the clinician’s to be films and we will get them produced by mid December. More videos  will  follow on other I&V topics.

If you or your staff/clinicians/ trusted community colleagues  would like to do a video for their community please let us know.

We are particularly interested in people representing the messages for Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities.

We have also heard the message from all our partners that they want to be kept up to date and connected with this agenda as things change – so we will do an initial weekly and then fortnightly update to you all.