More evidence, this time from The Times, that our testing system, presided over by Did Zero, is a disgrace:"The data that governs our freedom flows through two computer systems which do not talk to each other.The problem illustrates the extent to which the test-and-trace system is simultaneously centralised and fragmented. The computer systems used by the “lighthouse labs” that process tests cannot pass data direct to the ones used by contact tracing. Instead a human is required to inspect a spreadsheet before passing it on. One error has led to thousands of infectious people being free to roam around the country.It is not entirely clear why the labs run by NHS Test and Trace need to pass data to Public Health England (PHE) before it is sent to contact tracers also run by Test and Trace. In part it is likely to be because the data needs to be integrated with results from NHS labs, which are a separate system again, along with information from the devolved nations, before going to a dashboard run by the Department of Health, yet another organisation.“NHS Test and Trace operates as a highly centralised system and is vulnerable to system-wide IT problems,” said Michael Hopkins, professor at the science policy research unit at the University of Sussex, said.After previous problems with data flows, he said that “the German model for test and trace is much more locally based and would not suffer from this kind of problem. Having already accepted that the German model for the Robert Koch Institute is preferable to Public Health England, further lessons could be learned from Germany, with NHS Test and Trace being restructured to provide greater local control of information flows and resources, and more resilience.”https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/covid-19-data-error-lays-bare-our-reliance-on-complicated-testing-system-3ngrd779n (warning: there's a paywall)
Richard Carter ● 1289d