The local authority with the highest infection rate in England has launched its own contact-tracing system to plug holes in the £10bn national scheme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”.
Blackburn with Darwen council, in Lancashire, set up its own virus-hunting team after the national system failed to reach hundreds of its most vulnerable residents.
Dominic Harrison, the council’s director of public health, said the government programme was “simply not tracing enough cases and contacts fast enough”.
The move reflects growing frustration among local health officials with the national test-and-trace system, which was launched in May as a central plank of the strategy to ease England out of lockdown.
The NHS system, which is run by the former TalkTalk executive Dido Harding, involves more than 20,000 contact tracers employed by private firms such as Serco and Sitel.
Labour said the response by local authorities showed the top-down approach had failed and resources should be given to local authorities nationwide to develop their own systems.
In Blackburn with Darwen, where the infection rate is more than 10 times England’s average, dozens of staff have been seconded from other departments to contact residents who could not be reached by the national system.
The council said under its new model, which was supported by Public Health England, local teams would track down people who could not be reached by the national system after 48 hours.
If local officials still did not make contact after two days, council workers would visit their address to pass on advice and offer support.
Crucially, the Blackburn model will factor in potential language issues and any other vulnerabilities using the knowledge of community-based teams.
It is understood that health officials in Greater Manchester are working on a similar locally run system.
Sandwell council in the West Midlands became the first local authority to set up its own system last week after its public health director, Lisa McNally, said the national system was failing.
In other areas, including Leicester and Liverpool, council workers have also been carrying out door-to-door tracing – but local health officials say their work has been frustrated by incomplete data coming from the national system.
Mohamed Khan, the leader of Blackburn with Darwen council, said: “Once again we see how local government, with its knowledge and connection to the local area, can rise to the challenge and deliver for our residents. 
“I am proud that we have designed and delivered an effective and efficient local system to complement the national programme very quickly. Once again the council has shown local leadership in our battle against this terrible virus.”
The shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, told the Guardian: “For months we have warned ministers that without a vaccine, an effective, locally delivered test, trace and isolate regime would be critical to safe easing from lockdown.
“Instead, Johnson handed multimillion pound contacts to firms like Serco and the claimed his approach was ‘world beating’. Given infection rates are now rising and local areas are in lockdown it’s no wonder local authorities are now abandoning Johnson’s failed approach and setting up their own systems.”