NHS test-and-trace regime to slow the spread of coronavirus ‘will not be up to speed until September’
- Contact tracing system chief Tony Prestedge said the programme will be ‘clunky’
- He spoke in a video to staff on May 27 the day before Matt Hancock launched it
- Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 is expected to provide their details
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The NHS test-and-trace regime will not be fully up and running until September.
Tony Prestedge, the chief operating officer for the contact tracing system, is said to have told employees it would be ‘imperfect and clunky’.
In a May 27 video to staff, obtained by The Guardian, Mr Prestedge said: ‘I am sure when Dido [Harding, the NHS chief overseeing the programme] announces this service later she will make clear that it is an imperfect service at launch that we will improve over time and make it world-class by the time that we are moving towards the September or October time.’
Mr Prestedge added: ‘We know it will be imperfect, we know it will be clunky but we ask you to help us improve the service.’
The NHS test-and-trace regime will not be up and running until September according to Tony Prestedge, the chief operating officer for the contact tracing system. Pictured: Commuters wearing PPE take the Victoria Line to work in central London on Wednesday
He added that he expected the scheme to be running for two years.
The video was recorded the day before the scheme was launched by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
The programme requires anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 to provide phone numbers and email addresses of people they have been in close contact with.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘The new NHS test and trace service is up and running and is helping save lives.
Anyone in this country can now book a test and the majority who book a test get the results back within a day.
‘We have over 25,000 contact tracers in place, who have all been trained and are fully supported by public health experts.’
Mr Prestedge’s comments came in a video that was recorded the day before the scheme was launched by Health Secretary Matt Hancock (pictured)
However, three contact tracers told the Daily Mail earlier this week that they had not made a single call.
Another claimed she had spent much of her time reupholstering a chair as she had so little to do.
On Wednesday the Prime Minister said it has already resulted in ‘thousands’ of people self-quarantining who would not otherwise have done so.
But the Government has refused to publish more detailed figures, saying that Ministers wanted to be sure they were reliable.