Forum Topic

Hancock's testing regime................

t really does get worse as Hancock has hired private firms to run the drive through testing sites rather than increase the NHs's own capacity, thereby rewarding friends of the Tory Party.The DoH failed to tell 'Private Eye' who these were so they did their detective work.Deloitte manages the process - operations on the ground are performed by a range of privatisers. One is Mitie - a former Tory leader of Westminster council - Baroness Couttie a mate of David Cameron is a board member and advised Dodgy Dave on 'public sector efficiency'. Mitie boast openly that the Baroness is a Conservative Whip.Next up - Compass - through its sports event subsidiary Levy. Their Chairman, Paul Walsh, was one of the business leaders who signed a 'vote Tory' letter ahead of the 2015 election.Then comes Serco who appointed Rupert Soames as Chief Executive in 2014, he is grandson of Winston Churchill and also brother in law of Tory MP Philip Dunne.One reader of Eye working at a site says temp. staff managed by outsourced contractors are showing 'shocking' standards of PPE awareness.  Boots supplied core testing staff for the first drive through centres many with clinical experience and all trained by pharmacists. However, then Sodexo was called in to supply both testing and training staff without medical experience. The reader said that on their site some testers will be trained by 'a Sodexo trainer, who only has to have actually performed three swab tests themselves to qualify as a trainer'.

Vanessa Smith ● 1908d12 Comments

'As I pointed out above, testing in NI is done by private sector provider chosen without any kind of competition and closely linked to a current MP, the former NI secretary, and his wife!'But isn't he good where badgers are concerned? Yes, those dastardly little buggers who went around moving the goalposts!

Vanessa Smith ● 1907d

I'm afraid this is a tired old Daily Mail meme that is quite clearly untrue: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/health-and-social-care-bill/mythbusters/nhs-managersIs it a myth or a fact?Myth. The NHS in England is a £100 billion-a-year-plus business. It sees 1 million patients every 36 hours, spending nearly £2 billion a week. Aside from the banks, the only companies with a larger turnover in the FTSE 100 are the two global oil giants Shell and BP. If the NHS were a country it would be around the thirtieth largest in the world.If anything, our analysis seems to suggest that the NHS, particularly given the complexity of health care, is under- rather than over-managed.It is also quite untrue to say that the NHS did not accept private sector providers for testing labs. In fact the testing labs around London are all (I believe) overseen by private sector consultants Deloittes and delivered by private companies like Mitie, Sodexo and Serco. As I pointed out above, testing in NI is done by private sector provider chosen without any kind of competition and closely linked to a current MP, the former NI secretary, and his wife! There are many other private sector providers in the NHS including nearly every GP.

Guy Lambert ● 1908d

I have to admitt that I dont fully understand how track and trace will operate. What I am not sure about is why people (not here) are talking about it as some panacea.

Nicholas Beard ● 1908d

English local authorities have varying standards but they should be supported. Governments of all sorts for decades have paid lip service to decentralisation but have done the opposite. You can understand why Scotland and Wales have wanted an increasing say over their own affairs.Track and Trace is an obvious issue that should be run at a local level not centralised.

Christopher Hugh Dakers ● 1908d

Good points Jennifer.Private and public provision each have their pros and cons.  In the present crisis we saw how the private food retail sector was able to very rapidly adapt and keep their stores stocked (except for panic buying).  The diagnostics failures in the UK were due in part to the centralising tendencies of the NHS and PHE wishing to control the whole process and consequently throttling capacity.

Andy Riley ● 1908d

'Germany did well with their testing.  What can we learn from them?'You will find that Germany uses both government medical systems and PRIVATE, consequently their overall spend on health is higher that in the UK and very efficient too.  The NHS has an obsession to keep every thing in-house which means a massive amount of managers, clerical staff all of whom occupy space in buildings and require pensions. salaries etc etc.  OUR NHS should be involved in pure medicine and looking after patients - let the doctors run the place.  Why didn't the NHS accept the many offers from private companies regarding PPE and testing labs?

Jennifer Selig ● 1908d

Don't start from here with a starved health service.  They all put more in per head and were prepared.

Philippa Bond ● 1908d

To be honest Guy, you could find so many stories about the duplicity and cronyism of this lot it would be a full time job relaying them. The 'tracers' (call handlers) are poor buggers who are being hired on minimum wages again by these outsourcing companies such as Serco. Very few are qualified public health and clinical professionals. As the last 'Eye' noted 'Hancock's antipathy to local government and enthusiasm for contracting out, as well as for unproven tech solutions - his scheme relies on untested mobile phone apps to trace contacts digitally - means the UK is again out on a limb'.

Vanessa Smith ● 1908d

'Germany did well with their testing.  What can we learn from them?'That we elect our leaders much more carefully I would think!

Vanessa Smith ● 1908d

Germany did well with their testing.  What can we learn from them?

Andy Riley ● 1908d

We seem to have decent cooperation between the NHS and LBH and I think Kelly O'Neill is doing an excellent job.We have been told there's an ambition to start test and trace locally this week but where that fits into the national picture I have no idea.Vanessa missed the Eye story about testing in NI: a £133K contract has been awarded single tender to Randox. Former NI secretary Owen Paterson is a consultant to Randox on £100K pa. This follows previous govt contracts worth £24M to Randox. Randox also sponsor the Grand National at Aintree racecourse. The chair of Aintree racecourse is Rose Paterson aka Mrs Owen Paterson. As PE says, 'cosy'

Guy Lambert ● 1908d

Thanks Vanessa,very interesting. What would we do without the venerable organ? Their story is related to a question that I have.I have struggled for months to understand how test, track, and trace etc. is to be (or is not to be) organised at a local level. We have a nationwide network of local public health directors but I understand that they have found themselves struggling to get a hearing, let alone a key role, in handling the Covid crisis. I believe that Kelly O'Neill is the public health director at Hounslow.Part of the problem may lie in the bad blood that followed the transfer of public health responsibilities in 2013 from the NHS to local authorities. Since then there have been savage cuts to public health budgets.It seems to me that a locally-based system, working to common guidelines, is a no-brainer.We appear to have a lack of a clear role for local GP practices and then there are about 9,100 local authority wards in the UK. Covid statistics are available at ward level and wards could provide the basic building block. All that local knowledge may well go untapped.Can anyone put me right on this issue?

Jim Storrar ● 1908d