Council response

Thank you for your petition to the Council which was considered at the Council meeting on 18th November 2020. The matter was referred to me for a written response.

In response to your petition I would highlight the importance of providing readily available and accessible testing for our local residents in Tower Hamlets. This is critical to our ability to contain and reduce the transmission of the virus and the very serious health impacts it can have for some people.

In mid-September there were no test centres in Tower Hamlets, apart from a drive through site at Billingsgate which was only open one in every three days. It was very important to open additional local test centres so that we could increase the access to testing. Since then we have opened up sites in places where we expect to see a higher number of cases (due to associated factors such as housing, deprivation and ethnicity).

The local test centres provide accessible, walk through testing where people can book an appointment for a Covid-19 test if they think they have symptoms. Bookings are made through the NHS testing website. People who book a test are directed to walk or cycle to the test centre and to go straight home afterwards. They must wear a mask/face covering (including for children aged 3+). The centres are continually cleaned to a high (hospital like) standard.

The public health view is that the test centre is sufficiently distanced from the market area provided social distancing guidelines are followed. Test centre security staff manage the entrance to the centre and ensure there is no build-up of people that could spill over into the market area.

The Ideas Store test centre has so far completed over 11,000 tests and our monitoring data has demonstrated that opening up the test site has substantially increased the rate of testing in wards nearby that we have identified as higher risk. This means that more people who are positive and their contacts are identified which reduces the spread of the virus.

If people wish to drive to a test centre they are able to access the mobile test site at Billingsgate and there are also other drive through sites that can be accessed through the NHS testing website.

We therefore intend to continue with the current arrangements for local testing centres as these are operating well and are helping us to manage the virus in the borough. Thank you for the views you have provided within your petition and at the Council meeting which we have considered and responded to.

Yours sincerely

Denise Radley
Corporate Director, Health, Adults and Community