Its failure to outsource coronavirus testing and an under-resourced contact tracing system have led to criticism
, co-ordinated, united and efficient public-health agency that rivals any in the world,” was the verdict of a review conducted in 2017 by representatives of some of the world’s top public-health bodies, including the president of Germany’s highly regarded Robert Koch Institute, on Public Health England . Three years later,is being scrapped.
But the government is at least partly responsible for these missteps. Since Britain had plenty of warning of the pandemic, it should have provided the necessary resources for testing, tracking and tracing earlier. By the time it did, the government had lost faith withTest and Trace to do the job, with private-sector outsourcing companies such as Serco and Sitel providing the manpower.has received a mixed response.
There are also questions about the nature of the change. Britain has been criticised for its centralised approach to the crisis, and Matt Hancock, the health minister, said in announcing the creation of the new agency that Germany was a model for them. But Germany’s public-health system is run by its local authorities, which the Robert Koch Institute supports by providing science and standards.
Dido Harding, the organisation’s boss, who has management experience in food retail and telecoms, is not universally regarded as the right choice. “It’s the culture of amateurism,” says a health-system analyst. “The Germans would never appoint somebody like that to this job.” The timing is also controversial. “The lesson of health reorganisations is that the cost in short-term disruption outweighs any medium- or long-term benefits,” says the analyst. “It’s an incredibly stupid move,” says a health official. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic. I’ve had four meetings in the past few days in whichstaff may be thinking more about their prospects than about covid-19.
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