Private companies running test and trace services were slammed by councillors calling for a locally based focus.
Brighton and Hove City Council leader Phélim Mac Cafferty lashed out at the government’s decision to use private companies instead of experienced health professionals on the covid-19 track and trace system.
The Green leader said that the government’s decision to hand over test and tracing to businesses was “disastrous” at a meeting of the full council last night (Thursday 22 October).
He said that Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock should provide funding and resources for public health teams to deliver tracing at a local level.
Councillor Mac Cafferty said that public health teams across the country had received just £300 million between them while companies such as Serco, Sitel and Deloitte “reaped” more than £500 million “with little to show for it”.
He said: “We cannot afford the continuation of these catastrophic national blunders. Not one penny more should be given to the failing contracts in the private sector.
“This scandalously wasted resource must be handed over to public health teams, like the one here in our city, which is helping effectively manage the pandemic despite a decade of savage government cuts.”
Fellow Green councillor Clare Rainey seconded his motion calling for a report about the effects of lockdown on quality of life and mental health.
She said that up to 10 million people would need some form of mental health support as a direct consequence of lockdown, up to 1.5 million of them children and young people.
Councillor Rainey said: “The long-term uncertainty, fear, isolation and loneliness as a result of lockdown, as well as elevated stress around redundancy, finances, the changing job market and social restrictions, are taking their toll.
“The charity Samaritans has fielded a quarter of a million calls directly related to covid during the pandemic – and calls to domestic violence helplines have increased by nearly 50 per cent.
“To make matters worse services are not offering face-to-face appointments, and GPs are often not seeing patients, making it harder to refer them. For example, referrals to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Servicecs) have gone down by 47 per cent during lockdown.”
Labour councillor Clare Moonan, who chaired the council’s Health and Wellbeing Board at the start of the outbreak, said that in the early days of the pandemic a certain level of panic could be forgiven.
She praised council staff, the NHS and voluntary sectors for coming together and taking control of an “unprecedented” situation.
Councillor Moonan said that Labour backed the Greens in calling for a properly resourced local strategy.
She said: “As a public health professional for 15 years, I know that infectious diseases are controlled by effective and evidence-based contact tracing methodologies.
