Key tracing website ‘not ready until next month’
CONCERNS have been raised about the Scottish Government’s contact tracing scheme after it was revealed that a key website may not be ready until next month.
Nicola Sturgeon had pledged that the ‘test, trace and isolate’ strategy would be up and running by the end of May.
But it has now been revealed that a key part of the scheme – a website that allows people who catch the virus to insert the details of people they have had contact with – is likely to be delayed.
So far, only 660 staff are in post for the scheme, despite the First Minister previously saying 2,000 staff would be recruited. A further 750 are ‘at various stages of the appointment and training process’.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman yesterday said there is ‘no intention of ditching’ the technological aspects of the scheme currently being piloted in three health board areas. She said ‘one or two tweaks’ may be required but the pilot has been a success in reducing the paperwork required from contact tracers. But she confirmed the website for the public may not be ready until next month.
Miss Freeman said: ‘The second enhancement to that technology which we anticipate will come through in June is an enhancement that would allow the individual, who is reporting that they have symptoms and for whom the test is then booked, to themselves fill their contacts over the period that is required, helping to speed up the process.’
The Scottish Government’s blueprint for its test, trace and isolate strategy set out that it would include a ‘secure web-based tool accessible on smartphones or computers’.
Senior health officials later indicated that an app could be introduced to help people fill out the details on smartphones – in addition to the separate ‘proximity app’ being introduced by the UK Government to inform people if they have been close to anyone who has the virus. It is understood there will not now be an app, although the website will be accessible from a smartphone or tablet computer.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Monica Lennon said: ‘Last week, we learned that the Scottish Government had failed to employ any new contact tracers despite setting itself a target of 2,000 people, a target it looks set to miss.
‘Now we find that the mobile web tool the public was promised to assist with the contact tracing process hasn’t been delivered, with no sign of a date at which it will become available, if ever.
‘It begs the question what exactly is being piloted in the three health boards supposed to be trialling the test, trace, isolate strategy.’
She said the public ‘deserve clear answers about their future safety’.
Contact tracing apps are being used in several countries, with the UK Government testing its system on the Isle of Wight. The Scottish Government announced it would pilot new technology for contact tracing at NHS Fife, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Highland. The Scottish system will not use Bluetooth technology, and users will instead manually input details of their contacts.
Miss Sturgeon has previously said any UK Government app would be an enhancement to other aspects of her contact tracing plan but insisted her strategy is not reliant on it.
‘Clear answers about their safety’