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Public health directors in England are asked to take charge of Covid-19 testing
Care minister’s request is admission that centralised programmes have fallen short
David Brindle https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/08/public-health-directors-take-charge-covid-19-testing-care-homes
Ministers have asked local directors of public health to take charge of Covid-19 testing in English care homes in what will be seen as a tacit admission that centralised attempts to run the programme have fallen short.
In a letter to sector leaders, seen by the Guardian, the care minister, Helen Whately, acknowledged that testing of care home residents and staff needs to be “more joined up”. She describes the new arrangements as “a significant change”.
Under the new approach, public health directors employed by local councils will take lead responsibility for arranging the testing of some 400,000 care home residents and 500,000 staff, in discussion with directors of adult social services, local NHS bodies and regional directors of Public Health England (PHE).
Critically, the local public health directors will decide which homes should have priority in the testing programme, which is still working up to a capacity of 30,000 tests a day for the sector.
The switch is a conspicuous, if belated, vote of confidence in local government’s ability to help get a grip on the Covid crisis. There has been frustration and incomprehension that public health teams have until now been left as bit-players in the testing programme and in tracking and tracing carriers of the virus.
One senior director of public health said: “We’ve been pushing and pushing government to realise that we exist and that we are best placed to organise things like testing, alongside directors of adult social services, because we know our patch.”
The plight of care homes has shot up the political agenda in recent weeks as Covid has swept through many of them, leading to the deaths of 6,686 people up to 1 May in England and Wales. The health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, offered on 28 April to test all residents and staff, but there has been widespread criticism of the availability and speed of checks.
In her letter, sent on Thursday, Whately says there will “soon” be capacity for 30,000 daily tests of care home residents and staff, adding: “This ambitious plan requires a close partnership with local leaders to help direct these efforts to where it is needed most.”
Outlining plans to order visits by mobile test units via a new online portal, the minister says lead responsibility is being given to public health directors “to ensure that testing of staff and residents in care settings is more joined up, and that available national capacity we are delivering is targeted to areas and care homes with the greatest need”.
Care home sector leaders said that while any move to reform the testing system was welcome, homes would still have no say in determining local priorities or timetables. Lack of capacity remained a grave concern.
Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum, representing not-for-profit care homes, said: “With almost a million people needing to be tested, and only 30,000 tests a day envisaged at best, what our members really want to know is when all this is going to be a reality.”
Care minister’s request is admission that centralised programmes have fallen short
David Brindle https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/08/public-health-directors-take-charge-covid-19-testing-care-homes
Ministers have asked local directors of public health to take charge of Covid-19 testing in English care homes in what will be seen as a tacit admission that centralised attempts to run the programme have fallen short.
In a letter to sector leaders, seen by the Guardian, the care minister, Helen Whately, acknowledged that testing of care home residents and staff needs to be “more joined up”. She describes the new arrangements as “a significant change”.
Under the new approach, public health directors employed by local councils will take lead responsibility for arranging the testing of some 400,000 care home residents and 500,000 staff, in discussion with directors of adult social services, local NHS bodies and regional directors of Public Health England (PHE).
Critically, the local public health directors will decide which homes should have priority in the testing programme, which is still working up to a capacity of 30,000 tests a day for the sector.
The switch is a conspicuous, if belated, vote of confidence in local government’s ability to help get a grip on the Covid crisis. There has been frustration and incomprehension that public health teams have until now been left as bit-players in the testing programme and in tracking and tracing carriers of the virus.
One senior director of public health said: “We’ve been pushing and pushing government to realise that we exist and that we are best placed to organise things like testing, alongside directors of adult social services, because we know our patch.”
The plight of care homes has shot up the political agenda in recent weeks as Covid has swept through many of them, leading to the deaths of 6,686 people up to 1 May in England and Wales. The health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, offered on 28 April to test all residents and staff, but there has been widespread criticism of the availability and speed of checks.
In her letter, sent on Thursday, Whately says there will “soon” be capacity for 30,000 daily tests of care home residents and staff, adding: “This ambitious plan requires a close partnership with local leaders to help direct these efforts to where it is needed most.”
Outlining plans to order visits by mobile test units via a new online portal, the minister says lead responsibility is being given to public health directors “to ensure that testing of staff and residents in care settings is more joined up, and that available national capacity we are delivering is targeted to areas and care homes with the greatest need”.
Care home sector leaders said that while any move to reform the testing system was welcome, homes would still have no say in determining local priorities or timetables. Lack of capacity remained a grave concern.
Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum, representing not-for-profit care homes, said: “With almost a million people needing to be tested, and only 30,000 tests a day envisaged at best, what our members really want to know is when all this is going to be a reality.”
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There is little doubt that the handling of care homes during the COVID-19 crisis is going to be one of the most contentious issues when the inevitable public inquiry produces its report at some point in the future.
But, what do we hear about at today’s daily briefing ? Is the public informed of this change in “strategy” regarding testing in care homes ? No. Instead, we get to listen to George Eustice tell us that “McDonalds drive through was made for social distancing”. I wonder why this might be  It's almost as if they don't want the public to be made aware of a change in testing arrangements at care homes now that we have "passed the peak". |
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We dont have our own problems to seek up here in regards to this disgraceful situation do we?
Nicola Sturgeon saying sorry about the shambles in regards to lack of testing up here wont cut with relatives. Would add though she is at least a bit more transparent and speaks better than the UK led charlatans. |
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The situation in care homes appears to be even worse in Scotland if you take the relative percentages available from the lagging death registration data. A sorry tale all round.
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Sitting ducks sadly old people
 They will be stopping their meds and letting them die that's the sad truth of the matter |
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Hancock promised on the 15th and 23rd of April(French carehome thread) to test all care homes,CH4 tonight showing care homes trying to get tested still.
Disgraceful. |
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Hi Angoose.
I asked a question of your self on the Horse Racing forum re: laying odds on shots on the footy. Just a shot in the dark by way of any stats you may have at your disposal. Any info appreciated  |
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pmsl, hopefully at some point they will use local knowledge for contact tracing too, just a shame the disease is now so widely spread. i read they are now testing the microsoft/google app as theirs is so sh1t.
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They reckon 15m have already had it
Sorry but its time to end this little game and get everyone back to work  Seriously what is the point carrying this on? their agendas have been exposed, 25-30% have already had it without knowing it  , its mainly killing over 70s and those underlying health conditions the list goes on Just give it up and accept defeat ffs |
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