Oxfordshire and Banbury area campaigners call for a local, publicly-run 'test and trace' system for Covid-19

While Keep Our NHS Oxfordshire (KONPOX) calls for local test and trace set-ups and an end to using private, profit making companies to take up the work, Banbury's Keep the Horton General Campaign has called efforts to get testing and tracing started 'a mish-mash' of failures.

The criticism comes as Downing Street admitted that test and trace, promised for June 1 would take 'some time' to become nationally operational. Scientists are said to be concerned that lockdown is being eased before the system is properly in place. It also comes as plans for widespread use of an app to manage tracing digitally have failed.

Extensive contact tracing has been called for repeatedly by public health experts and the World Health Organisation (WHO) since the start of the epidemic.

And KONPOX is demanding that testing and tracing of contacts and organising isolation and quarantine should be done locally.

"We have the infrastructure - our local public health team, now within the local authority, is run by our Director of Public Health who has a legal responsibility to deal with epidemics," said spokesman Bill MacKeith.

"This is most safely done under the public health team‟s direction, by publicly-recruited, -trained and -employed staff, using publicly-owned equipment. In this way we can keep a grip on what is done, make certain it is carried out with all possible speed in a way which is integral to local services and carried out in full knowledge of local circumstance.

"Local public health teams will know where best to carry out tests, where the care homes are, how to ensure maximum compliance. They will have easy access to hospitals, doctors and social care departments. Above all they will be working for us, their population - accountable to us for what they do. Tracing also is best carried out by local teams."

Charlotte Bird of Keep the Horton General said: "This has been a mish-mash of failed promises, bright app start-ups that have not produced, continuing missed opportunity by not letting public health experts do their job and missed targets for action that appear to have been publicised to take the public's attention away from other government crises. It seems inevitable many more lives will be unnecessarily lost."

Socialist Health Association (Oxon) spokesman Dr Liz Peretz said: "If we are not in isolated lockdown we have to have a contact tracing system which must be local to be effective.

"The kind of careful tracing and support which was in place for AIDS and even Sars has been thrown away by the last few governments. Getting poorly-paid Serco operatives to work from a national call centre will not work.

A scheme in Sheffield has shown how it can be done. Every town, district and city needs to set a similar scheme up if we are to get in top of the situation."

The Sheffield scheme is run by retired doctors and has recruited and trained local volunteers Contacts are traced, supported and isolation plans arranged.

An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said the county has not been given the go ahead to take action and is waiting for information from central government.

"We are pleased the Government recognises that an understanding of the local community context and good connections within the community are vital in ensuring that the tracing programme will meet local challenges as they arise."

But the spokesman said Oxfordshire is still 'awaiting the detail' of local level involvement.

"There will be a key role to play with our local areas and we are in touch with our local partners and Public Health England to discuss how we can do this effectively."

The media office would not confirm which private partners will be involved but said as well as 'national testing providers' others will include NHS organisations, district councils and local voluntary organisations.

Commenting on why test and tracing efforts were halted in mid March, the spokesman said: "The policy for testing and tracing is determined nationally by the Department of Health.

The county would not comment on how a local lockdown system might work or who would make decision on such a scheme in which a restricted lockdown would be imposed in areas of high known infection. Details and guidance are not available so the county cannot comment, the spokesman said.