Oldham MP McMahon slams test and trace service

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has slammed the Government’s test and trace service after analysis by the Labour Party shows that in the week ending October 7, just 54.8% of contacts in Oldham were reached.

The analysis, verified by the House of Commons Library, reveals a deeply flawed contact tracing system unable to handle the increase in Covid-19 cases as the country enters a second wave.

Mr McMahon said: “It’s no wonder the scientists advising government say that the £12billion programme is only having a marginal impact.

"We’ve been under enhanced restrictions in one form or another for months now in Oldham, it’s getting ridiculous that the system is only reaching half of the contacts.

“Instead of doing what it should and reaching the contacts of positive cases, I’ve heard that the test and trace service is plaguing people with phone calls.

"I received an email last week to tell me that a constituent was basically being harassed by the test and trace service, and in the end had to block the number, as the calls were so persistent.

“I’m really not sure how government plans to get a grip on the virus when its flagship programme just isn’t doing its job.

“80% of contacts reached is where we need to be to stand a chance, we’re miles away in the low 50s, there’s hundreds of people in Oldham completely unaware that they’ve been in contact with someone who’s got the virus.

"They’re potentially spreading it around to loads more people, it’s not good enough, Oldham is being let down by this disastrous system.

“Ten years of austerity and increasing privatisation have undermined the way our public services can respond to this crisis - we need to switch away from the centralised Serco-led model of contact tracing.

“Instead of paying consultants eye-watering sums of money government should hand over control to local teams if we’re to have any hope of getting a grip on this.

"Just imagine what local council’s public health teams would have been able to do if they’d had the funding that Serco has been given.”

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