Coronavirus tests lost, unpaid volunteers hired to work on them – and the Tories STILL miss targets!
The UK’s Tory government has lost control of the coronavirus testing process.
First, the Tories lost thousands of tests that they had handed over to private companies. Here’s the Health Service Journal:
Data on the outcome of tens of thousands of tests carried out outside the NHS is ‘disappearing into a data black hole’, making it harder for local organisations to respond to the spread of coronavirus in their area.
An internal NHS update email seen by HSJ, which is meant to tell local organisations how many residents and staff in their areas have tested positive, states that full information is “increasingly becoming unavailable” and cannot be reported “until further notice”.
Instead the reporting is based only on NHS lab tests, which make up less than half of total tests now being carried out, a proportion which is still shrinking further.
Why would any government hand over vital work to a private firm that simply isn’t up to the job?
Oh yes – they’re Tories.
They are ideologically inclined to give work to privateers, which is why Boots – we’re told – is now recruiting volunteers to carry out this work for no pay, as The Independent reports:
An army of unpaid volunteers is being recruited to carry out coronavirus tests across the country as ministers try to hit their target of 200,000 a day.
They are being asked to sign up to work at least 32 hours a week, swabbing the noses and throats of people who may be infected, for no pay.
The high-street chemist Boots is advertising the roles across the country, with the support of ministers.
And the upshot?
The Tories haven’t hit their 100,000-a-day test target, let alone the intended 200,000-a-day by the end of May.
Worse: as the information from the tests is being lost, local areas will be handicapped in their attempts to treat people with the disease because they simply won’t know who those people are or where to concentrate their efforts.
And Tory dogma means this situation can only get worse.
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First of all, remember that Boots is American owned which rings major alarm bells regarding NHS privatisation.
The cynical Tory habit of incorporating volunteers into business plans has to be nipped in the bud immediately.