‘ Room for improvement’ on testing

ONE OF the Government’s top scientists has admitted there was “room for improvement” in the NHS Test and Trace system after the service recorded another week of slumping results.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that he shares “people’s frustrations” over the programme, and that “we do need to see faster turnaround times and we need to improve it” as just one in seven people having a test at a centre were getting their result back in 24 hours.

The new weekly data from the programme shows 15.1 per cent of people who were tested for Covid- 19 in England in the week ending October 14 at a regional site, local site or mobile testing unit – a so- called in- person test – received their result within 24 hours.

This is down from 32.8 per cent in the previous week and is the lowest weekly percentage since Test and Trace began.

The figures also show a drop to 59.6 per cent in the proportion of close contacts of people who tested positive who were reached.

This was the lowest weekly percentage since Test and Trace began and is down from 63 per cent in the previous week.

For cases handled by local health protection teams, 94.8 per cent of contacts were reached and asked to self- isolate in the week ending October 14.

The Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said: “It’s undoubtedly the case that test, trace and isolation becomes much more difficult to have an impact once numbers are high.

“It’s much more effective when numbers are low.”

The number of tests able to be carried out had increased, he said.

But he added that “it’s really important to concentrate on numbers of contacts, isolation as quickly as you can and getting things back as quickly as you can.

“Ideally you get the whole process done within 48 hours.”

And he added: “It’s very clear there’s room for improvement on all that and therefore that could be diminishing the effectiveness of this.”

The PM said: “We need to make sure that people who do get a positive test self- isolate.

“That’s absolutely crucial if this thing is going to work in the way that it can.”

Earlier in the Commons Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said “the statistics have been bad every week” from the Test and Trace service.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I just want to leap to the defence of Test and Trace because in the last fortnight, the number of contacts and cases that have been reached has doubled, the distance travelled over the last just over a month to get a test has halved and the turnaround time for tests that are sent to care homes, which are critical to saving lives, that has come down.”

Interim executive chair of the National Institute for Health Protection, Baroness Dido Harding, said: “Reducing turnaround times is our absolute priority to make sure we are reaching people as soon as possible.

“We always need to balance ensuring as many people as possible can get a test alongside ensuring test results are delivered as quickly as possible.

“And as capacity continues to grow at pace, we expect to see improvements.”

Ideally you get the whole process done within 48 hours. Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser,