Council leader urges Health Secretary to sort problems with Test and Trace system
Telford & Wrekin Council is calling for urgent improvements in the NHS Test and Trace system after a series of flaws came to light in the borough this week.
Leader Shaun Davies has written to Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock and borough MPs Lucy Allan and Mark Pritchard to share problems with the Test and Trace system experienced by borough residents over the last few days.
The borough has a regional Test and Trace site, run by the NHS, at the Council’s Ironbridge Park and Ride service car park on the A4169 at Jiggers Bank, which offers pre-booked appointments for people with symptoms of coronavirus only.
The problems seen this week include the site having to shut early, while people were still waiting, leading to major traffic problems and local people unable to book appointments at Ironbridge.
Local residents were offered appointments at sites in Wales and the North West with one borough resident has told the Council they were given a testing slot at Aberystwyth - a five hour 180 mile round journey from Telford. Another borough resident was directed to a test site in Oldham – 85 miles from Telford where a local lockdown has been in force.
Test results for people working or residing in care homes in the borough are taking a week to arrive.
Cllr Davies said: “If the situation in the borough this week with Test and Trace weren’t so deadly serious it would be farcical. But it’s not, it’s reality.
“It needs resolving now before public confidence in Test and Trace, the key weapon in containing the virus, drains away completely.
“Huge amounts of money have been poured into NHS Test and Trace but still we see a system failing to cope at time when a surge in demand was entirely predictable.
“I urge the Health Secretary - make this your top priority and put this right before it’s too late.
“We worked hard to provide this facility to the NHS so that it could support local people but sadly it seems this is just not happening.”
