Civic Enterprise Leeds (CEL) supporting the city and key partners during the pandemic

Outcome/aim

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, new requirements were needed to enable the continued delivery of core services and practical solutions to meet emerging needs. Civic Enterprise Leeds (CEL) worked alongside partners to deliver these services and ensure business continuity. This included transporting more than 350 patients to hospital for ongoing essential treatment, delivering an additional 120 hot meals every day to elderly residents and enhanced cleaning services.

Background

Covid-19 impacted services across the city, including schools and partners such as Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust (LTHT). Civic Enterprise Leeds (CEL) worked alongside partners to provide a range of additional help and support to ensure services such as schools could remain open with core functions provided in different ways, as well as responding to and managing emerging needs.

What has been delivered?

Over the past 12 months services within the CEL Group have:

Transported over 350 dialysis patients to and from hospital over 20 weeks of the early start of the pandemic, using seven buses, to relieve pressure on the ambulance service.
Fleet services adapted 380 vehicles during the Covid-19 pandemic to support delivery of key and frontline services such as communities and neighbourhoods, refuse and parks in a way that kept LCC staff safe.
Cleaning and facilities management (FM) supported all existing clients (schools, housing, LCC services) and a number of new citywide requirements with enhanced cleaning and services during the pandemic to protect service users and support service delivery during the pandemic. This included: cleaning the food warehouse after it was used to distribute food during the Covid-19 lockdown; cleaning all refuse wagons on a daily basis; 90 vehicles for Cleaner Neighbourhoods and crematoriums to allow services to continue and areas such as St George’s Crypt to reduce Covid-19 transmission between residents.
Cleaning Services partnered with LTHT; supporting surge testing within the community; utilisation of community centres by LTHT with additional support from Cleaning/FM to ensure these were clean and appropriate, cleaning and providing FM support of the temporary mortuary created during the pandemic; supported the NHS with additional staff.
Fleet Services now collaborate with LTHT on the supply of vehicles for the expanding LTHT fleet, which were previously all hire vehicles. This crucial work supports GP surgeries and sampling which is needed for multiple patients on a daily basis.
Leeds Building Service supported housing teams with a backlog of repairs, carrying out 1,400 responsive repair jobs following safety protocols.
Leeds Building Service mobilised a team to assist with the design aspects and led on the building activity of the temporary mortuary facility in response to the risks around Covid-19. This was a full construction of the facility involving all ancillary trades and was a fantastic effort from all involved who delivered an extremely professional and high-quality facility at a challenging time.
Presto Meals on Wheels did not falter despite the pandemic. No service user was left behind and numbers grew significantly during the pandemic as more elderly Leeds residents were without their usual contacts of support. On average we delivered an additional 120 hot meals every day.
Presto Cleaning devised an enhanced training package for cleaners working within homes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

What was the impact/next steps ?

Delivery of these actions helped keep schools open, key services running and provided additional support to the NHS during a period of immense pressure. The above activities strengthened and enhanced working relationships and brought a real sense of satisfaction to those involved and had an immeasurable impact on Leeds residents.