Recommendation 10

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) recommends that, for a test and trace system to be effective, no more than 48 hours should elapse between identifying an original case and their contacts self-isolating. NHST&T routinely monitors the speed with which it provides results for PCR tests carried out in person and met its target to reach 80% of these within 72 hours from January 2021 onwards. The NAO found that NHST&T did not routinely monitor performance for other types of PCR tests, such as those taken in peoples’ homes or in care homes which make up the majority of PCR tests.17 However, the former Head of NHST&T was able to provide this data at our evidence session and it showed significantly worse performance for all PCR tests than for in-person PCR tests. They told us that, by mid-January 2021, 73% of results for in-person tests were returned within 48 hours and 91% were completed within 72 hours. For all PCR tests 54% of results were provided within 48 hours and 75% of results were provided in 72 hours. They accepted that NHST&T had more work to do on home testing, and highlighted how it was working with Royal Mail to make it easier for people who could not get to a physical test site to get their home test quickly.18 One of NHST&T’s main targets was to identify 60% of COVID-19 cases through its testing. However, it had not, since November 2020, been able to monitor this because of changes to the methodology used by the Office for National Statistics to calculate new infections, a key input to this metric.19 Engagement with test and trace