PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Coronavirus: Screening (15 September 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether private contracts between the NHS and providers of covid-19 tests permit the moving of supply of covid-19 tests to areas of the UK with unmet demand.

Asked by:
Sarah Owen (Labour)

At times during the National Testing Programme, demand has been high and as such test sites in areas with higher prevalence were prioritised. Public Health England, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and National Health Service Test and Trace monitor infection levels across the country so higher volumes of testing are targeted where they are needed most. We are working closely with local authorities and local Directors of Public Health, sharing data on a daily basis to understand and tackle outbreaks

Further we regularly redistribute completed tests across the Lighthouse Lab network to ensure best possible utilisation of the network. We are ‘future-proofing’ capacity so that we can respond to increases in demand. We can expand testing to new use-cases – such as asymptomatic testing of NHS staff in high-prevalence areas and the mass testing pilot in Liverpool.

Answered by:
Helen Whately (Conservative)
9 December 2020