Test and Trace lost track of 600m lateral flow tests in England as 14% go unused

Around 600 million rapid result Covid-19 tests which were distributed by Test and Trace may have gone unused, a watchdog has found.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said only 96 million of the 691 million lateral flow tests have been registered since mass testing was rolled out by the NHS in England in October, leaving 595 million tests untraceable.

Millions of tests unaccounted for

Only 14 per cent of lateral flow Covid-19 tests handed out were registered with Test and Trace, meaning 595 million tests have gone unaccounted for.

Test and Trace bosses had forecast that between March and May this year, 655 million lateral flow tests would be used in the UK.

But while close to 700 million of the tests have been given out in England, the NAO said “only a small number of the tests distributed have been registered as used”.

Ministers had hoped the rollout of the tests, which can return results in just 30 minutes, would help people return to workplaces, with the tests available to order online or collect from local pharmacies.

The progress report, which covers November 2020 to April 2021, said: “NHS T&T does not know whether the tests that have not been registered have been used or not.

“It has started a programme of research to understand why the registration of test results is so low and is working to increase public awareness of the need to register results and improve its ability to track tests.”

'Well below target'

The NAO also found that Test and Trace’s performance for returning the result of tests taken in the community within 24 hours “fell well below its target” during the winter spike in Covid-19 cases in December. Only 17 per cent of people received their results within a day in December, a figure that had been scaled up to 90 per cent by April.

Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, said that the lack of registrations was a “pressing challenge” that needed addressing.