Who will foot bill for roll out of mass testing?
TALKS STALL OVER COST CONCERNS
COUNCILS in the Tees Valley have been offered the opportunity by the Government for residents to take part in mass Covid-19 testing, but talks have stalled over who would pay for it.
The Sunday Sun understands the offer came from Health Secretary Matt Hancock in a call with Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen.
When Mr Houchen put the proposal to leaders of the five councils in the Tees Valley – which like the rest of the North East is to be placed in the very highest Tier 3 level of restrictions – concerns were expressed about the local authorities potentially footing the bill.
Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Mary Lanigan said an initial proposal involved councils manning testing stations with their own volunteers, which she said was “unacceptable”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested that mass testing, recently used in Liverpool, is a way out for areas facing the toughest restrictions.
Redcar and Cleveland Council was previously one of several councils which put itself forward for mass testing – which sees the Army drafted in to aid with logistics and the setting up of test centres – before the start of a national lockdown earlier this month.
But the Government chose to focus on city-wide testing in Liverpool instead, which having been in Tier 3 is now moving into the lower Tier 2.
Mr Houchen said he himself had concerns about how mass testing would be resourced and rolled out.
He said: “[I asked] are we going to get ongoing support from the Army or other resources to be able to run it. Following a conversation with council leaders they agreed they want me to go back to Matt Hancock and say we want the mass testing, but we do need the resources and the finances to run it.”
Mr Houchen also said there was a worry about the potential timeline involved. He said: “It could take three weeks to roll out. That leads to additional concerns because how many people are going to volunteer to be tested a week or two before Christmas?
“That could mean they may have to self-isolate over Christmas when there is this five-day window, so there are things to be worked on.”
Talks are expected to continue next week.
Coun Lanigan said: “We are having a look at the logistics of it, but it is extremely important that central Government finance this. They said initially we would have to man the testing stations with volunteers, which is not acceptable, and we cannot get that many volunteers anyway. We would struggle.”
Coun Lanigan added: “I would like Redcar and Cleveland to take part, I think it is a good idea and it might get us out of Tier 3 quicker, which is what they’ve done in Liverpool.
“But there are also questions about the level of training which would be needed – it needs doing properly and also co-ordinating properly so we get the right results.”
The Government is separately supplying local councils with rapid ‘lateral flow’ testing kits, which can be selfadministered and generate results in under half an hour without the need for laboratory equipment, but there has been frustration with the late arrival of these.
Stockton’s director of public health Sarah Bowman-abouna told a meeting of its health and wellbeing board that these were due on Wednesday.
But it is understood they did not arrive until Friday afternoon.
Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham said on Twitter that the delivery of Stockton’s 10,000 kits came in fact two weeks later than they’d initially been promised.
He said: “Par for the course. If the Tories had been two weeks earlier in starting to tackle the virus back in March we may not have had so many deaths.”
Redcar and Cleveland Council also said it had received 10,000 kits on Friday as part of a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) allocation.
It was now planning a “targeted programme” to protect the most vulnerable in the borough with nursing homes and care workers likely to be first in line for the tests.
Councillor Steve Kay, cabinet member for health, housing and welfare, said: “We believe that these kits will help us protect our most vulnerable communities, and the people who work with them, by identifying cases quickly and allowing us to reduce the risk of transmission.
“The council will work with local people and community and voluntary organisations to not only build demand for additional testing, but also raise awareness of preventative measures the public can take such as social distancing, washing hands and mask wearing.”
The DHSC were contacted for a comment about mass testing arrangements for areas in Tier 3, but no response was received.