South West Clinical Senate. Test and Trace Strategy (Sept 2020)

Following discussion with the regional PHE team and with input from the COVID response cells within NHSEI
in the South West; the Clinical Senate were asked to convene a session in order to provide recommendations
on the future test and trace strategy in the South West, noting the current widely publicised issues with
access to tests for COVID 19 and the need for a regional strategy in relation to pillar 2 testing, how best to
respond to national policy and the Senate’s role in offering an independent clinical perspective on this. The
Clinical Senate have also made some recommendations that would assist in controlling the spread of the
Covid-19 virus which were considered important to include.
To inform discussions, the Senate Council heard from PHE, Local Authority, the South West Citizens’
Assembly and the pathology and infection control cells in the South West, in addition to reviewing the
existing principles for outbreak management and current pathology guide to testing. The Clinical Senate
Council members and expert colleagues discussed both the opportunities for a regional testing strategy and
held focus groups to discuss the testing priorities for health, social care, the community and educational
settings.