UK Doesn’t Use Its High Covid Testing Capacity Efficiently, Study Shows | Health policy

The UK has comparatively high testing capacity, but is not using it efficiently to tackle Covid-19, the researchers say, raising concerns, including a lack of follow-up and adequate financial support from those who isolate themselves. .

The UK’s test and trace system has come under fire in recent weeks, with some people being advised to travel hundreds of miles for a test and response times plummeted.

Now, researchers have compared it to systems in five other countries – Germany, Ireland, South Africa, Spain, and South Korea – and have found that while the UK has the highest proven testability, its system is seriously flawed.

“There is no use having, as we have, a very high relative number of tests if it does not lead to people being isolated and supported to break the chains of infection,” said Professor Michael Hopkins of the University’s business school. from Sussex. , co-author of the work.

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, compared the test-and-trace systems of the six countries to the five principles of an optimal program, as established by the UK Independent Sage committee, such as the need for rapid tests and accessible. and isolation of infectious individuals. The team also looked at the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

While the lack of data meant that the performance of the systems could not be compared, the team was able to observe the gaps in the approaches. The results, based on programs through the end of August, showed that all countries’ systems had problems, for example, South Korea’s approach raised privacy concerns, while Spain lacked contact trackers.

Despite the UK having the highest proven testing capacity of the six countries, the team found flaws in its test and trace system, including access to testing and people taking their own swabs. The researchers said that people who want a test should be classified by GPs and, if a test is required, it should be done by a healthcare professional to avoid poor sample collection.

“Any other scarce resource on the NHS, you have primary care as gatekeepers,” Hopkins said.

The team also raised concerns about where the evidence was processed. “In the UK in particular, the launch of new large-scale private tests at Lighthouse laboratories has bypassed accreditation and raised quality issues,” the researchers said.

They noted concerns about the low effectiveness of the UK contact tracing system, saying it lacked measures for those who isolate themselves, without sufficient controls over adherence and their health and well-being. Furthermore, while a comprehensive guide to self-isolation was available, it was only available online and not in all required languages. The team added that the financial support available to those who isolated themselves might not be enough. “You don’t have to choose between paying the bills and going to work and infecting people,” Hopkins said.

Professor Chris Bonell of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said there was an urgent need to improve the scope of test provision and tracing in the UK. “We also need to provide much more generous financial support to those who are asked to isolate themselves. This will encourage those who test positive to report all of their contacts. It will also allow those who are asked to isolate themselves to do so, ”he said. “Unless we make these changes, we are clearly heading for big trouble.”

However, he had reservations about the proposal that GPs should classify people and said that access to tests should be as quick and easy as possible. “Given the current lack of capacity, some priorities need to be set,” he said. “However, expecting GPs to manage this alongside their other jobs seems like a bad way to manage it.”