Exclusive: Barking and Dagenham says it acted because of delays at NHS centres
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A London council is thought to be the first in the country to set up its own same-day Covid testing service for key workers, sidestepping the nationwide system over delays in getting tests and results.
Barking and Dagenham council in east London said it had acted because of concerns about delays in accessing tests at the NHS testing sites in the borough. NHS testing centres are run by 40 private and public companies overseen by Deloitte, which has described its role as “supporting the creation of the testing programme”.