More than 1,000 NHS jobs at risk as Lighthouse Covid-testing labs to close

Hospital leaders worried they’ll have to foot the bill to continue Covid tests for staff

The government is ending funding for Covid-testing labs (AP)

More than 1,000 staff in NHS Covid labs are set to lose their jobs within weeks as testing facilities close.

As the NHS winds down major Covid-testing facilities, vaccination hubs run by GP practices are also beginning to shut as they have become “unviable”, The Independent has been told.

The move comes as healthcare leaders have been left in the dark over whether they will receive any future funding to continue Covid testing for staff and patients.

Three of the major NHS “Lighthouse” labs are due to let more than 1,000 staff go in two weeks’ time, as hospitals are forced to close the facilities as national funding ends.

With the government’s “living with Covid” plans set to kick in next month, Covid test walk-in sites across the country are also due to be closed by local authorities in the next two weeks.

The government set up seven Lighthouse laboratories in response to the pandemic, including those run by Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Plymouth Trust, and NHS Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services.

The labs have been forced to tell staff that their jobs are at risk when the facilities close next month, with more than 1,000 staff employed between them, many of whom may not be redeployed elsewhere.

As free testing for the public is cut, several NHS leaders said they have been left in the dark over whether hospitals will receive funding to continue testing patients and staff beyond 1 April.

One senior trust leader told The Independent that a national funding cut of at least 50 per cent is looming. That money covers testing and other Covid-related costs, such as staff sick pay, and could affect hospitals.

Care-home leaders have also raised concerns over the lack of clarity on Covid funding beyond March.

Chief executive of Care England, Professor Martin Green, said: “The government has set a precedent of easing Covid restrictions and requirements.

“The latest clinical and scientific advice on public health and safety is shifting, however many of the requirements imposed onto the adult social care sector remain in place, whilst many of the issues exacerbated by Covid and central policies will continue to persist into the future.”

Prime minister Boris Johnson visiting a Lighthouse laboratory at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus in Glasgow in 2021 (PA)

He said also the government’s “living with Covid” plan did little to reassure the sector that support would remain in place for testing.

Professor Green added: “If the Covid support funds are to end, along with the discontinuation of free asymptomatic testing for residents, staff and visitors, care providers will face an enormity of financial and emotional challenges which can be avoided by government intervention.”

As funding and contracts are ended across the NHS Test and Trace programme, local authorities have warned that testing centres will not open beyond 31 March.

In addition to NHS-run Lighthouse labs letting staff go, private operations, such as the Milton Keynes laboratory run by Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium, are also set to lose staff.

The news comes as new Covid admissions to NHS hospitals reached more than 9,000 on Friday and the number of positive patients in hospitals hit more than 10,000 for the first time since mid-February.

Meanwhile, GP practices have said that local vaccination centres are closing or reducing their opening hours and are beginning to wind down, as funding and low demand for the vaccine makes them “unviable”.

“In our neighbouring areas a lot of the sites are shutting, as the demand isn’t there and there are better things to be doing. Commissioners have begged some to stay open as there wouldn’t be a vaccination site in [some] areas at all apart from the pharmacy ones,” said one GP representative in London.

“Its just not viable to keep them open and we don’t get the funding for them.”

The BA.2 variant of Omicron has led to a spike in cases (PA)

Managers warned that staff loaned out to vaccination sites would not necessarily be able to return to practices due to the lack of central funding.

The roll out of fourth vaccine doses for over-75s is due to begin next month, however there has been some pressure to expand this in response to Covid admissions rising.

University Hospitals Plymouth Trust, which runs one of the Lighthouse labs that employed more than 350 staff, said it was looking at how it could “repurpose” its facility going forward. It said any staff on secondment would return to their posts, and agency staff would be given notice, while the trust is looking to redeploy them where it can.

The trust was not able to say how long it would take to stand the labs back up should they be needed again.

A representative of the Covid-19 hub run by Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust said: “When the government announced its ‘living with Covid’ plans on 21 February 2022, it was apparent this would have a major impact on demand for the services we provide.

“Consequently, the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has informed us that we will not receive a new contract for services beyond 31 March 2022.

“As the majority of our fixed-term staff were contracted to work until 30 September 2022, we are now planning for a formal redundancy consultation process, possibly affecting 650 individuals.”

It said no decisions about redundancies would be taken until the 45-day consultation period had ended.

In a letter to staff, seen by The Independent and first reported by Newcastle’s Chronical Live, the trust said there were “limited opportunities to secure separate funding and develop existing services”.

It said the ending of NHS Test and Trace contracts affected the whole Lighthouse network.

A spokesperson for the UKHSA said that, as free testing is due to be focused on specific groups, there will be a “significant” drop in demand for laboratories and so the Lighthouse network is due to be consolidated.

The UKHSA did not confirm how many Lighthouse laboratories would be open beyond 1 April following this “consolidation”.