Community testing, tracking and contact tracing of C-19 is a key part of the government's strategy as plans are made to relax the lockdown 1/11
Community testing requires sufficient capacity to test in convenient locations and to turnaround the results quickly - this currently does not exist and the whole testing programme to date has been beset by problems @NHSProviders 2/11
Test results need to be shared rapidly with people affected, GPs and staff undertaking contact tracing, supported by data sharing arrangements yet to be agreed 3/11
Contact tracing should be undertaken by public health, environmental health and other local authority staff with training and expertise in this vital work in collaboration with @PHE_uk as argued by @jimmcmanusph @KateAlvanley @Jeanelleuk 4/11
Local leadership matters because C-19 is not a national pandemic but a series of regional and local outbreaks best contained by leaders on the ground who know their communities - as in Scotland and Wales 5/11
Councils also have major role in supporting people who are asked to isolate and they need government to provide resources for this work 6/11
Integrated care systems - as partnerships between the NHS and councils - are well placed to support and oversee this work in their areas @NHSConfed 7/11
GPs and their staff should also be supported and resourced to contribute alongside volunteers as used in Sheffield to support contact tracing @MartinRCGP @NikkiKF 8/11
The government's preference for using the private sector (e.g. Deloitte on testing and Serco on tracing) needs to be challenged when the public sector has so much to offer 9/11
an App may have a supplementary contribution to make but is no substitute for the army of people on the ground who are the first line of defence in contact tracing. The government needs to demonstrate that 18,000 tracers will be sufficient 10/11
The mid May deadline for implementing testing, tracking and tracing at scale and to a high standard is overly ambitious. More time should be given to @didoharding and her team to get this right for us all. We are owed a duty of care 11/11
