• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Tell us something we don’t know? Hunt admits test and trace would have been more successful if run by local authorities

“My observation would be: why has the vaccine programme been a success? Because it’s been very locally led. And that has meant you had local NHS people, local Government people, local public services, local volunteers."

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2021-04-29 17:05
in News
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

The test and trace system would have been more successful if it was led by local authorities, which have done “heroically well” during the pandemic, a former health secretary has said.

Jeremy Hunt said one of the reasons behind low compliance with self-isolation requests is because people are being instructed to stay at home by call operators hundreds of miles away.

In February, the head of NHS Test and Trace Baroness Dido Harding said research has shown that between 40% and 20% of people contacted by the programme are not fully self-isolating after being instructed to do so.

Coronavirus – Fri Nov 13, 2020
Baroness Dido Harding (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

Local authorities would be better placed to monitor compliance, Mr Hunt said.

He told the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services’ Spring Conference: “I think that local Government has done heroically well in the pandemic overall and my own view is we should have asked it to do more.

“I think we would have had more success with our contact tracing programme if we’d run it through  local Government as the primary place that it operated from.”

He added: “My observation would be: why has the vaccine programme been a success? Because it’s been very locally led. And that has meant you had local NHS people, local Government people, local public services, local volunteers.

RelatedPosts

MUST WATCH: Mick Lynch annihilates billionaires, Tories, and UK media

French urged to immediately reduce fuel and energy use

‘This book changed my life’: Ricky Tomlinson launches scheme to get The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists to young people

Prince Charles accepted suitcase containing €1 million in cash from Qatari sheikh

Self-isolate

“And I think that one of the reasons we’ve had low compliance with requests to self-isolate…is because the request comes from someone in a call centre 300 miles away, not from a local authority that is in a better position – it would need the support to do this of course – but would be in a better position to monitor whether compliance was actually taking place.”

Coronavirus – Wed Feb 3, 2021
An NHS Test and Trace worker (Peter Byrne/PA)

During his address, Mr Hunt also raised the “terrible unfairness” of people being forced to spend their life savings on catastrophic care costs.

He said a close friend of his in his early 60s was diagnosed with a neurological condition a year ago and is considering whether to go into a care home “which will clean out his life savings and mean that when he dies his wife is left with absolutely nothing”.

Mr Hunt said: “There is an unfairness there that goes against everything that the NHS stands for and that we as a country stand for.”

Shadow care minister Liz Kendall, also speaking at the conference, said “too many people are scared of getting old, especially if they end up needing care and support”.

Care costs

She said Labour has long-backed a cap on care costs, but that she thinks “there’s a bit of a danger in the current climate to see a cap as the sole solution”.

She said: “The absolute bottom line here is you cannot leave social care to individuals or markets alone.

“We have to pool our resources and share our risks – there’s a number of ways of doing that.

“A cap on care costs is absolutely a step in the right direction but I don’t think it’s the total solution.”

She added that Labour’s ambition is to “make Britain the best country in which to grow old”, so that people age “with confidence, not fear”.

Related: ‘You can’t handle the truth:’ Major Sleaze loses his cool as Starmer cruises at PMQs

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Lotto Results for Saturday 7 May 2022 Lottery Tonight’s winning numbers

Is Cloud-based Testing the Answer to Certification Fraud?

Studies Suggest Tea Really Can Be The Ultimate Cure-All, Especially For IBS Sufferers

Harrods remove Marmite from Caviar aisle

Have your own phrase fall off a wall behind Theresa May

London’s best new restaurants opening in November 2021

Petals produce a ‘blue halo’ that helps bees find flowers

Iconic animals threatened by surge in humans in Masai Mara & Serengeti national parks

Top ten sports funniest moments

Birth of black hole ‘captured for first time’

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.