Coronavirus: Preston case-tracers find hundreds who eluded NHS

Preston was the first Lancashire council to obtain local case-tracing

Hundreds of Covid-positive people who eluded the NHS test-and-trace system have been tracked down by a council in Lancashire.

The team of six case-tracers located 659 Preston residents after efforts to reach them failed, figures reveal.

Preston City Council staff reached them by phone or - in more than 200 cases - turned up on their doorsteps.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it provided data to help councils manage local outbreaks.

Figures shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service showed that contact was made with 659 out of 907 people who had not been reached within 24 hours of their test result - a success rate of 73%.

The six-strong team - led by Faye Murphy (not her real name) - called at the homes of 231 people who had tested positive to remind them of their legal duty to self-isolate.

She said a lot of people told them they did not answer withheld numbers which is how the calls from the national and local team display on their phones.

But some people clearly did not want to engage with case-tracers.

"Nobody has immediately slammed the door in my face, but I have had a few who have said, 'Just leave me alone, I'm not interested'," she added.

Of those who received a home visit, 68 refused to respond to council staff or pledged to answer a subsequent call to hand over the details of their close contacts and then failed to do so.

In 60 cases, there was nobody home when a case-tracer called - and letters were left, but not responded to.

Preston City Council was one of the first authorities in Lancashire to obtain local case-tracing powers at the start of September.

Council leader Matthew Brown praised the "impressive" local case tracers but stressed that it was only needed because of the "failures of the national outsourced system".

More than 900 cases were passed over to Preston City Council

He added Preston has been asking for a localised test and trace service for some time, especially since the city became an area of intervention on 7 August.

Mr Brown added: "The infrastructure we have nationally is not working. The government are now giving us bits of things which we can do more efficiently - but it's too piecemeal and not co-ordinated."

A DHSC spokesman said NHS Test and Trace meant that "over one million people who may otherwise have unknowingly spread coronavirus have been contacted and told to isolate".

They added: "[We are] breaking chains of transmission thanks to local and national teams working hand in glove."