Devon labs will analyse covid-19 tests

Backlog of testing in county

Local laboratories are set to be used in Devon to tackle the backlog in processing coronavirus tests.

Recently people trying to book a test in the county have been sent as far away as Cardiff, a 260-mile round trip taking around four and a half hours. Devon’s deputy director of public health Steve Brown has told a local outbreak engagement board meeting that this issue had been raised to the highest possible level and that the challenge was about lab capacity, not the issuing of tests.

He said the national solution was to increase the lab capacity, from around 250,000 tests a day to 500,000 by the end of October, but that additional local lab capacity through the CCG is set to be used in Devon if required.

But he said that there are around 6,500 tests on a weekly basis from in the community are being carried out in Devon – over and above the ‘pillar 1’ testing in hospitals and care homes, and that the finite capacity of labs in Devon would not allow for all the ‘pillar 2’ tests to be analysed locally if there were national shortages.

Part of the shortage in capacity was being caused by around 25 per cent of tests being used on people who either were not displaying any symptoms, or had not been instructed to take a test, Mr Brown said. And he said that while the track and trace system in Devon appeared to be working better than it was elsewhere in the country, it only works when ‘people are honest’.

He said: "Locally, there are challenges for us, and one of the immediate solutions is to utilise some local labs. If people are having trouble accessing tests, they can email the CCG and get access to a test that way. It is a short-term solution and we only have a limited capacity, but we are asking local labs to do more, with a focus around the most vulnerable people, schools and some workplaces. This is a national problem, but we are aware of it locally, and we are trying to put in solutions to it.”

Recognising the pressure that could be faced on labs, the University of Exeter has agreed a partnership with Halo, the UK’s first commercial provider of saliva-based PCR tests for Covid-19. The agreement will ensure rapid testing of students and staff at campuses in Exeter and Cornwall, providing both same day and next day results.

Professor Janice Kay, provost and senior deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Exeter, said that it had cost them around £800,000, but it was designed because "we didn’t want to put a pressure on local testing resources."

Between launching on August 16 and the meeting on 9 September, 86 per cent of people were reached by Test & Trace, which is one of the best in the country (15th out of 150 nationally), and 68 per cent of close contacts were identified (21st out of 150 nationally). These rates have improved locally and nationally in recent weeks. Complex cases, which are referred to the Public Health England Local Health Protection Team for follow-up, were currently reaching 100 per cent of cases.

Mr Brown said: “Where there are complex situations, 100 per cent of being contacted and we are speaking to them and having conservations. But Test and Trace is only as good as people filling in the data and Test and Trace only works when people are honest. If they don’t disclose who they have been in contact with, we cannot contact them, and some of the initial data poses more questions, so we have to go back and get that data, but in complex settings, we are getting the data.”

At present, hospitality venue are only encouraged to record the details of people attending, but from 18 September, it will become law, with Mr Brown welcoming the move, saying: “If businesses aren’t collecting and keeping details for 21 days, it is nigh on impossible to them contact trace.”

A statement from the council added: “There have been some recent problems with access to covid-19 testing. This is not unique to Devon and is a result of national laboratory capacity being stretched and having to prioritise analysing tests for areas with a higher prevalence of covid-19 cases. We have put additional local arrangements in place to boost local testing availability until national capacity can be increased.

“We are asking Devon residents to book a test as normal via the government website. However, if they are unable to book a local slot then they can email dccg.devon.urgenttesting@nhs.net and they will be supported to access local testing.

“We are also reiterating messaging that individuals should only get tested if they have symptoms of coronavirus, outside of any asymptomatic testing programmes, and that care homes remain a top priority for testing.”