Staff shortages, hazardous samples, dangerous chemicals and physically gruelling tasks ... inside the secretive Lighthouse labs

Hayley Dixon Jack Hardy When the Government decided to build a series of mega-labs to ramp up coronavirus testing they turned to a volunteer army of scientists, technicians and students to help.

But as the country’s testing system fails again, it would seem that they failed to factor in that eventually that army would return to their real jobs.

Now they have been left with a desperate scramble to recruit hundreds of staff at precisely the moment that demand increases.

At the same time, insiders have revealed the flaws in the system and equipment, which slows down the process as staff work gruelling 12-hour shifts to try to clear the backlog.

Allan Wilson, the president of the Institute of Biomedical Science, said there had been a “significant drop in capacity at Lighthouse Labs”.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “We know that they have staff, some from very senior positions, and they are desperately trying to recruit. The labs were previously run by academics who are returning to their day jobs and they are trying to recruit biomedical scientists, but they are in short supply and the NHS is also looking. It is a competitive market.”

Mr Wilson warned there may be a reluctance to take up roles within the “secretive” privatised labs, which are often seen as a political disaster, when scientists are used to working within the NHS. “I can’t see many people jumping at the opportunity,” he said.

Staff shortages led Boris Johnson to write to leading universities asking for “urgent support” earlier this month.

The Prime Minister called on experienced staff who helped establish the labs to return to train new recruits and for technicians and graduates to make up the 400 staff shortfall at the five centres across the UK.

The Department of Health said two more labs, in Newcastle and Bracknell, would open in the coming month. The lack of capacity has meant tests being sent to Italy and Germany for processing to try to clear the backlog, leaked documents have shown.

Mr Wilson said there might be other issues in the labs, but they were “shrouded in secrecy”.

Virologist Dr Mike Skinner worked in the Milton Keynes lab until July. He said they had been increasing capacity, but the work was labour intensive. A “big problem” was that the medium in which the virus was transported did not kill it, meaning it had to be opened in bio-safety work stations.

‘They are trying to recruit biomedical scientists, but they are in short supply. It is a competitive market’

“The medium which does kill the virus is nasty stuff, and I think it is unlikely that they would be willing to send that out with home testing kits,” Dr Skinner added. “If someone who is not trained gets things in the wrong order and dampens the swab before putting it up their nose they would do themselves some damage.”

Because samples were potentially hazardous they were wrapped in layers of plastic which had to be removed manually. It was “physically gruelling” work, he said, but staff were working flat out to process a test a minute as they “know the importance”.

“When I left quite a lot of the young academics went back to their studies,” Dr Skinner said. “They were bringing in people but it was demanding work.”

He believes the failure to get labs in Newport and Charnwood fully staffed in time for schools going back and a surge in demand may have contributed to the lack of capacity.

Ben Stansfield also worked in Milton Keynes before he returned to the University of Arizona to continue his PHD. He said the main issues were not getting samples into the labs to test.

“This was a huge operation and we were working at full tilt,” he said. “Months ago these labs did not exist, and from a scientific point of view they are nothing short of a miracle in the time frame that they have been set up.”

However incredible the feat, the Government may now be wishing they had heeded warnings from scientists and increased capacity yet further as they prepare to ration tests in the face of ever-growing demand.