Council chiefs are 'kept in the dark' about patient coronavirus data, local mayors claim

Council health chiefs are being “kept in the dark” about local Covid infections, rendering them powerless to take the action needed to avoid lockdowns, it has been claimed.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, warned that the Government’s refusal to share patient test data left local authorities with their hands tied.

He suggested that ministers were failing to adhere to their own policies by declining to hand over “patient identifiable” information about a notifiable disease, meaning that councils could not adequately respond.

It came as extra measures, including a limit on the number of people allowed to visit a household, were announced in Blackburn with Darwen after a rise in coronavirus cases.

Dominic Harrison, the Lancashire authority's director of public health,  announced that the new measures must be followed for a month in a bid to avoid a local lockdown.

Blackburn had 47 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to July 11, up from 31.6 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to July 4. The authority is third on the list of highest weekly rates, behind Leicester.

Mr Burnham, speaking at a press conference alongside Liverpool’s metro mayor Steve Rotheram, urged the Government to stop working “from the top down” and instead run the response to coronavirus with local authorities as “a partnership of equals”.

Councils currently receive weekly anonymous data linked to postcodes, which he said was often incomplete, notably regarding ethnicity and occupation.

Mr Burnham said he had been asking for daily data on coronavirus cases - such as name, date of birth, and NHS number - for several weeks, warning that without full support, officials simply could not do their jobs.

“The concerns that we identified five weeks ago haven't been answered, they haven't gone away and in many ways, they’re more relevant now because of the situation we’ve all seen in Leicester,” he said.

"We have got the reality in front of us of heading into winter without a vaccine.

“This is about providing the support needed so we can do as much as we possibly can to protect our residents and our communities."

He added: “It’s crucial to the detective work that people need to do to quickly get a grip on a local outbreak."

Mr Burnham said the flow of information had improved but insisted that the government was still not handing councils all of the information it holds on their areas.

Covid-19 was added to a list of “notifiable diseases” by the Government in March, meaning that specific details of those who fall ill during local outbreaks must be passed, he said.

Mr Rotheram backed the calls, noting that local lockdowns would have a more detrimental effect on poorer communities who have to go to work.

He said councils were “not just about fixing potholes and emptying bins. They were “absolutely crucial” to the route out of the pandemic, he said.

The Department of Health and Social Care insisted it was sharing patient identifiable data.

A spokesman said: “This is wrong – we are sharing all relevant data with local areas as soon as it is ready.

"All councils in England now have the ability to access testing data, right down to individual and postcode level.

"Public Health England share this is as soon as it has been quality assured and we have been sharing data dashboards with local authorities since 11 June. We will continue to work constructively with councils to protect the public and save lives."