Recommendation 6

As we hope for longer-term and sustained reductions in infection levels, the Department needs to think about the future shape of national test and trace services, and how it will secure lasting benefits from its spending. NHST&T will be part of the newly formed National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP). However, the Department has not set out the details or timetable for the establishment of NIHP, scheduled for April 2021. In allocating additional funds to NHST&T, the 2020 Spending Review outlined that this funding will be subject to review as the vaccine programme is rolled out. The Government is now accelerating the roll-out of vaccines across the country, but we have not seen a future strategy for test and trace in response. NHST&T anticipates a continuing need for large-scale testing and tracing alongside the vaccine programme and the Department says it still needs to think through how best to wind down capacity at the appropriate time. The Department and NHST&T talk about leaving a legacy for the NHS through the vast investment in testing capacity, but they have not articulated even at a high level what this will be. We challenged NHST&T whether large testing centres were 8 COVID-19: Test, track and trace (part 1) the best way forward for the NHS, compared to having more testing capacity in local hospitals. NHST&T explained “there is not a single model” and that it is yet to “work through how it should evolve in a post-COVID world”. Recommendation: Within the next six to nine months, the Department should outline publicly its future strategy for testing and tracing services in England, including: • its timetable for transitioning to the new National Institute for Health Protection, • its exit strategy when infection levels reduce, including downscaling, mothballing and reallocating national and local capacity; • how it will cost-effectively maintain a degree of readiness for future surges of COVID-19 and other influenza-like infections; and • how it will