The UK’s Test and Trace system, which has been given a budget of £37 billion over two years, is failing to deliver, according to a new report by the Public Accounts Committee.
The first problem the report exposed was that the system relied too heavily on consultants and has not reaped the rewards needed to justify this- shown by two national lockdowns since its creation. Some of these private consultants are paid more than £6,600 a day, and it is hard to account for.
The system has allegedly aided in increasing testing capacity in the UK; test-processing ability went from 3,000 a day to 800,000 in January. Yet, as the report outlines, total laboratory testing capacity in November and December 2020 remained under 65%, and tests in a face-to-face setting were never returned within 24 hours.
The cost of this endeavor is becoming tougher to justify, especially considering that NHS staff are getting just a 1% pay rise in this year’s budget. Johnson has said it is still kind, given that other public sector workers were not getting a pay rise. However, the move makes defending a system that may be needed but is overall overly expensive and often ineffective, difficult.
Written by Anna Male
Artwork by Delicia
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