Test and Trace is blasted by MPs
THE NHS Test and Trace programme “has not achieved its main objective” to enable people to return to a more normal way of life despite being handed “eye-watering” sums of money, according to a report by MPs.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the programme’s outcomes have been “muddled” and a number of its aims have been “overstated or not achieved”. Meanwhile, it has been handed the equivalent of 20% of the NHS’s entire annual budget – £37 billion over two years.
The committee criticised handling of the cash, saying that the programme has still not managed to reduce the number of expensive contractors – who are paid an average of £1,100 per day – and has not developed a “flexible” approach to using laboratories, which “risks wasting public money”.
Test and Trace’s “continued over-reliance on consultants is likely to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds”, the report states. It has been focused on getting programmes up and running and “paid less attention to ensuring these programmes delivered the benefits they promised”, it adds. The report also says uptake of services provided by the programme is “variable”, as some vulnerable people are much less likely to take a test than others.
MPs on the cross-party committee said that, as the programme is moved into the new UK Health Security Agency, it needs a “proper long-term strategy”.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “The Test and Trace programme was allocated eye-watering sums of taxpayers’ money in the midst of a global health and economic crisis. It set out bold ambitions but has failed to achieve them despite the vast sums thrown at it.
“Only 14% of 691 million lateral flow tests sent out had results reported, and who knows how many took the necessary action based on the results they got, or how many were never used?
“The continued reliance on the over-priced consultants who ‘delivered’ this state of affairs will by itself cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds.
“For this huge amount of money, we need to see a legacy system ready to deliver when needed, but it’s just not clear what there will be to show in the long term. This legacy has to be a focus for government if we are to see any value for the money spent.”
The report conclusions include: ■ NHS Test and Trace “has not achieved its main objective to help break chains of Covid-19 transmission and enable people to return towards a more normal way of life”. ■ The programme’s “continued over-reliance on consultants is likely to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds”.
■ Uptake of services provided by Test and Trace is “variable” and “only a minority of people experiencing Covid-19 symptoms get a test”, with some groups less likely to take tests compared with others. ■ The programme’s laboratories approach and contact centre usage is “still not flexible enough to meet changing demand and risks wasting public money”.