New NHS test and trace pilot

CALDERDALE COUNCIL has been selected to take part in a national pilot, in partnership with NHS Test and Trace, to expand its contact tracing service.

Currently, the Council receives information from NHS Test and Trace about residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and haven’t been reached by the national Test and Trace service within 24 hours.

Local contact tracers then attempt to get in touch with the COVID case and identify people they may have infected – these people are known as contacts.

The details of these contacts are then passed back to the national system so they can advise them of their legal duty to selfisolate.

As part of the new pilot, any contacts that cannot be reached by the national team within 24 hours will be passed back to the Council’s local team.

Local contact tracers will then use text messages, telephone and home visits to attempt to reach the contacts and provide information on the support available to enable them to self-isolate, reminding them of the legal requirement to do so.

There have already been no*Based on volume of plans, Touchstone data 2018 – Q2 2020. with a lifetime mortgage. table examples of where the local contact tracers have been able to use their local knowledge and expertise to identify hard-to-reach contacts as well as possible routes of transmission and outbreaks.

The Deputy Leader of Calderdale Council, Councillor Jane Scullion, said: “Our local contact tracing service has been a real success story, with our local knowledge combining with the data and resource of national systems to help reach more COVID cases successfully.

“I’m pleased that we’re able to take part in this pilot scheme to expand our service.

“In addition to supporting work to reach cases, it means we can also use our expertise to reach their contacts when the national system has been unable to get in touch with them,” she added.

I’m pleased that we’re able to take part in this pilot scheme to expand our service.