The Successful use of Volunteers to Enhance NHS Test and Trace Contact Tracing of In-Patients with COVID-19: A Pilot Study

Contact tracing in the UK for COVID-19 is performed by NHS Test and Trace (NHSTT) via telephone or email. This study estimates how many patients who have been admitted to hospital are not reached by NHSTT and the number of their contacts who were not advised to self-isolate. Medical Student volunteers conducted face to face interviews with patients diagnosed with COVID-19 on an infectious diseases ward. Data on their close contacts were sent to NHSTT. 20 cases were enrolled, 13(65%) did not engage with NHSTT, 4(20%) because they had no positive PCR, 9(45%) because of severity of illness, language or intellectual difficulties. 49 close contacts were identified of whom 33(67%) were from cases who had not engaged with NHSTT. “Backwards” contacts tracing information was collected from 11(55%) cases and 8(40%) gave detailed information. These data suggest that NHSTT fails to engage nearly two thirds of COVID-19 in-patients and fails to advise two thirds of their close contacts to self-isolate. Volunteers used face to face interviews to overcome false negative tests, illness and communication problems to identify both close contacts and data on sources of infection.