Tory MP husband of NHS Test and Trace chief Baroness Dido Harding told to self-isolate by Covid app

by

The MP husband of Test and Trace chief Baroness Dido Harding has been told to self-isolate by the coronavirus app – though she has not been asked to. 

Tory MP John Penrose was alerted by the NHS Covid-19 app, part of the operation overseen by his wife.

However, Baroness Harding has not received an alert telling her to self-isolate, Mr Penrose added.

Under the rules of the NHS Test and Trace scheme, Baroness Harding does not have to isolate with Mr Penrose unless he develops symptoms.  

The Weston-super-Mare MP said on Twitter: ‘It never rains but it pours…. my NHS app has just gone off, telling me to self-isolate, which I’m doing.

‘No symptoms so far *crosses fingers*’

Asked if he had spoken to his wife about it, he said: ‘We are trying to make sure we are doing it by the book, if I can put it that way.

‘Her NHS app has not gone off, so it’s someone I have been in contact with rather than her.’

In response to a suggestion that it showed the system worked, Mr Penrose said: ‘I suppose it does.’

However, Lady Harding (pictured right) has not received an alert telling her to self-isolate, Mr Penrose added

John Penrose, the MP husband of Test and Trace chief Baroness Harding (pictured left: The couple together), has been told to self-isolate by the coronavirus app – though she has not been asked to. However, Lady Harding (pictured right) has not received an alert telling her to self-isolate, Mr Penrose added

The Weston-super-Mare MP said on Twitter: 'It never rains but it pours.... my NHS app has just gone off, telling me to self-isolate, which I'm doing'. Pictured: A screenshot, from a smartphone, of an alert notification from the NHS COVID-19 contract tracing app on

The Weston-super-Mare MP said on Twitter: ‘It never rains but it pours…. my NHS app has just gone off, telling me to self-isolate, which I’m doing’. Pictured: A screenshot, from a smartphone, of an alert notification from the NHS COVID-19 contract tracing app on

TESTING NUMBERS FALL DESPITE MORE CASES THAN EVER 

Despite the Test & Trace system recording more positive cases in the last week of October than in any period since it was set up in May, the number of people who were actually tested declined.

There were 137,180 positive test results recorded in the week from October 22 to 28, which was an eight per cent increase on the 127,132 the week before.

But the number of people tested went down.

It fell from 1,530,529 between October 15 and 21 to 1,482,528 in the most recent week.

The reason for this is not clear but there have been times when the Department of Health has had to limit testing because labs have become so overwhelmed with swabs that they cannot process them fast enough.

On the other hand it is possible that fewer people are trying to book tests, which may be because fewer people are catching the illness than earlier in the month.

As a result of tests going down but positives going up, the positivity rate has surged from 8.3 per cent to 9.3 per cent in a week, with 10.9 per cent in community testing. This means that one in every nine people who was tested that week tested positive.

Professor James Naismith, from the University of Oxford, warned: ‘At above five per cent positivity, daily test numbers run an increasing risk of underestimating the growth of the virus. This is well understood by scientists…

‘I have no idea why, given the positivity in pillar two, we are operating pillar two so far below the Government’s measure of capacity.’  

The MP’s revelation comes as his wife continues to face pressure over the NHS Test and Trace system. 

Last week, Baroness Harding admitted the system, which phones, texts and emails people who have been close to someone who later tested positive for Covid-19, needs to take a ‘big leap forward’ during lockdown to help the country recover.

The Tory peer said the operation needed to get faster and better at using data. 

On Friday, figures revealed England’s Test and Trace system reached a smaller proportion of at-risk people than at any point since it started.

The contact-tracing programme failed to get hold of 40 per cent of those potentially-infected cases in the week from October 22 to 28.

The 59.9 per cent of contacts who were successfully reached and told to self-isolate was the lowest percentage since the system started in May.

It dropped from 61 per cent the week before and 60 per cent the week before that, and has plummeted from a high of 91 per cent when the programme began. 

The system, headed up by call centres operated by private contractor Serco, had to try and get hold of 327,203 contacts in the week before last, when 139,781 people were referred after testing positive. This was more than in any other week.

Its lacklustre performance means that 131,136 people who might have been carrying Covid-19 without knowing it were never told by officials.

The system, which is privately-run but bears the name of the NHS, has hit repeated roadblocks since its inception, including software failures, staffing problems, laboratory backlogs and poor compliance from the public.

Most recently, Serco revealed it was having to draft in untrained staff to plug shortages.

One statistics expert from Oxford University, Professor James Naismith, said he wasn’t convinced Test and Trace was having a ‘meaningful impact on the disease’.

Labour said it was ‘absolutely vital’ Number 10 uses the national lockdown in England to fix the scheme.

In a glimmer of good news for the well-paid bosses at the helm of the system – some of whom earn £7,000 per day – the time it takes to get people their test results back improved in the most recent week across all parts of the programme.

The total number of tests completed, however, was down on the previous week, despite positive cases being higher.  

Speaking after the release of the figures, Baroness Harding said: ‘Latest figures show NHS Test and Trace is processing more tests and reaching more people, which means we are finding positive cases and helping to break chains of transmission.

How does the NHS Test and Trace system work? 

For those with symptoms: 

Step 1: Isolate for at least 10 days. Your household must also isolate for at least 14 days from symptoms developing.

Step 2: Order a free NHS test online or call 119 to speak to someone.

Step 3: If you are positive you must isolate for at least 10 days and your household for at least 14 days – those who don’t face fines starting at £1,000. Those who are negative can leave.

Step 4: If you test positive, you should fill in details of those you have been in direct contact with recently on the NHS Test and Trace website. If you don’t respond within 24 hours, the NHS may contact local authorities to follow-up by phone or in person.

Contacts

The NHS contact tracers will then attempt to track down those you have been in contact with. They will warn those people to isolate if necessary. Those people must isolate for at least 14 days from the contact with the person – or risk a fine starting at £1,000. People in that person’s household do not have to isolate, if you do not have symptoms.

If you do have symptoms, you are asked to contact the NHS Test and Trace system for a test. If your test is positive, you must continue to stay at home for at least 10 days and we will get in touch to ask about your contacts since they must self-isolate. If your test is negative, you must still complete your 14-day self-isolation period. 

‘We know that there are areas where we still need to improve and we are working tirelessly to make the service quicker and more effective every day.

‘We have expanded capacity to over 500,000 tests a day to help meet demand over the winter period and continue to improve test turnaround times. Increased capacity and testing innovations have also allowed us to start regular testing of staff across the NHS and care homes.

‘NHS Test and Trace is a crucial weapon against this virus, but it is not a silver bullet. I urge everyone to follow new restrictions and book a test if you have symptoms to help protect each other during this time.’

Baroness Harding, the former chief executive of telecoms group TalkTalk, was appointed to run the system by Health Secretary Matt Hancock in May.

The system is supposed to be a ‘world beating’ major weapon in the Government’s arsenal of anti-coronavirus measures – because it is designed to halt an outbreak in its tracks.

But the service has lurched from disaster to disaster – including its failure to reach tens of thousands of contacts who may have been infected with Covid-19.

NHS Test and Trace was hit with further stinging criticism in September after failing to expand capacity ahead of the return of schools, even though top scientists warned it would lead to the UK needing to carry out hundreds of thousands of extra tests each day.

The management oversight left parents being asked to drive hundreds of miles to get a swab for the children, and forced those who had a test to wait, in some cases, more than five days for their results — even though the Government promised to give everyone a result within 24 hours by the end of June.

SAGE has warned the system needs to trace at least 80 per cent of contacts to be effective.

It added that rapid turnaround times are ‘vital’ to curbing the spread of infections across the country. 

Tory peer Baroness Dido Harding admitted the operation needed to get faster and better at using data today as she found time to take part in a round-table session at the CBI conference.

Tory peer Baroness Dido Harding admitted the operation needed to get faster and better at using data today as she found time to take part in a round-table session at the CBI conference.

Last month, Boris Johnson said he had ‘full confidence’ in Baroness Harding, despite the continued poor performance of what is meant to be a ‘world-beating’ system under her management.  

Meanwhile, Baroness Harding has also defended the scheme, saying an organisation larger than Asda had been set up in fewer than six months.

‘We know so much more that we did six months ago about how the disease is spreading … I know it is really tough and horrible for everyone as we head towards Thursday but actually i am quite hopeful that we have more tools in the armory than we had before,’ she said.

‘Test and Trace didn’t exist in March, it is a scale organisation the same size as Asda and it will get even bigger … there is a lot for us to be optimistic about that we will crack this.’