Expert says privately contracted PCR testing must be reined in
Deenan Pillay, a member of the Independent Sage group, and a professor of virology at University College London has said the issues at the Wolverhampton Immensa lab should have been picked up within days, and that private PCR testing must be reined in.
NHS test and trace suspended their operations at the Immensa Health Clinic in Wolverhampton Friday, 15 October, after an investigation into claims that people across south-west England were receiving negative PCR test results from the laboratory had tested positive on a lateral flow device previously.
Immensa is a private firm that receives government contracts to process PCR tests.
Dr Pilllay has told The Guardian: “What is really surprising to me is that a problem like this was not picked up in the lab almost on the day,” he said. “If anything looks strange, even if the number of positive tests goes down, then that is a clear red flag.
“Errors always happen in labs. That is why you have a whole series of systems in place to rapidly identify any problems.”
He suggested that the government publish all its contracts with the firm, and that the NHS undertake as much testing as possible in place of private firms.
He said that quality control was better within NHS labs, and that lab heads took responsibility for results.
Earlier this year the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) requested that the Department of Health to mandate a “comprehensive monitoring and enforcement programme” as it felt basic standards and sanctions were not being placed on private testing companies.
This week, a DHSC spokesperson said the lab was “accredited with all appropriate standards” by the UK’s independent accreditation service (Ukas), before Ukas denied this.
The UK’s Health Security Agency is currently holding a “serious incident investigation” over the issuing of up to 43,000 falsely negative PCR tests by the Immensa lab.
Dr Jenny Harries, head of NHS Test and Trace, said the reasons for the error were currently unclear.
Dr Harries, also head of the UK Health Security Agency, told the BBC earlier today that: “a serious incident investigation” will take place within the organisation over the error.
She explained: “I want to make sure if there are any further problems with other laboratories we can absolutely spot them as quickly as possible, so I will be conducting a serious incident investigation within the Health Security Agency to make sure we can mitigate any problems going forward” adding, that the “location of the laboratory combined with the geography and the time period” allowed officials to flag the error.
