A CORONAVIRUS test and tracer today revealed he has been given so little work he can sleep on the job and even go to IKEA – all while being paid more than £1,000.
The shocking account of life inside the government’s flagship scheme to control the deadly bug comes after it emerged a third of patients ignore calls from trackers.
But the programme has been labelled “crazy” by staff who say they’ve been paid more than £1,000 without making any calls.
One tracer said he’s had time to sleep, go out, or play games while on his shifts, and claims when he logs on there’s no work for him to do.
He told HOAR: “I’ve still not made a call in three weeks (and) I’ve been paid over a grand so far.”
The tracer said: “(One day) I was in at 9-5:30am, clocked in, answered a poll at 9:15 and went back to bed.
He added: “Then I went to IKEA at around 11.”
“I don’t want to take the piss but I’m not going to sit around all day doing nothing.”
The roll out of the new system – which started on May 28 – is supposed to help Britain ease out of full lockdown.
It will track where the virus is and encourage anyone who has had contact with infected people to stay inside and stop spreading the virus further.
He said other tracers are keeping themselves entertained by playing games amongst themselves.
“Everyone in my group has been playing eye spy all morning. (It’s) crazy.”
“Our manager says very little, she does a poll in the morning to make sure we’re awake.”
The tracer spoke to the HOAR on condition of anonymity because workers have been warned they could lose their job if they speak out about the chaos of the new system.
The tracer added he had been paid £1,260 so far despite not making a single phone call.
He said the first group he worked in was made up of 70 people, and roughly 10 calls were made per day.
The group he was later moved to had 45 people and had only made one phone call between 9am and yesterday afternoon.
The staff had so little work to do, they were sent around games and quizzes including one asking them to “describe what you look like when you dance”.
Another email told staff to share what they wanted for lunch in emojis.
The tracer works for a customer management company called Sitel, who were tasked by the Government to help set up the track and trace system.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday thanked the hard work of private companies such as Sitel for helping get the system off the ground.
He said: “The system is working well, we will keep improving it, it will keep getting better.
“It will be world class. I’m delighted to say we still have spare capacity and long may it remain so.”
The Department of Health released the first figures on tracing yesterday revealing a third of all cases were not contacted.
According to the DoH, 5,407 people who tested positive for coronavirus were contacted in the first week the program was up and running.
An additional 2,710 people who tested positive and had their details transferred to the system were not contacted by tracers – meaning a third were missed.
Of their close contacts – anyone who was within 2 metres of them for more than 15 minutes – 85 per cent, or 26,985 people were reached.
The Government brought on 25,000 contact tracers to help get the programme onto its feet.
According to the Office for National Statistics there are 31,600 new cases of coronavirus in England every week.
And since lockdown restrictions have eased, people are more likely to see others and therefore infect more people.
The easing of measures allows people to meet outdoors in groups of six as long as they stay 2 metres apart.
But people have been seen meeting in large numbers in parks and beaches throughout the country.
Brits are also now allowed to meet up in private gardens and go inside to use the toilet.
The tracer said staff click “start tracing” button on their screens when they start, but when he clicks on his, there are no details of any one to get in touch with.
The Government has repeatedly stressed how important that contact tracing system is to keeping the deadly virus at bay, while getting Britain back to a “new normal” and start opening up businesses.
The programme will allow experts to monitor localised outbreaks without sending the entire nation back to lockdown if the numbers start to tick up again.
Officials say that some call handlers do have spare capacity – and that workloads are increasing.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “These claims do not reflect the huge amount of successful work happening every day.
“The NHS Test and Trace service is up and running and is helping save lives with over 27,000 people already advised to self-isolate.”
