Ocado boss hired to get contact tracing app back on track

HSJ understands the chair of the government’s test and trace programme Baroness Dido Harding reviewed the app when she took on the role in May and decided it needed new leadership.

Ex-Apple executive and Ocado Boss Simon Thompson has now been recruited to manage app, after NHSX chief executive Matthew Gould and NHS England’s chief data officer Geraint Lewis stepped back from the project.

And in a major U-turn, the government will now use technology developed by Apple and Google for the app, despite initially rejecting that model.

There were initial talks with Apple and Google over the development of the app in April, however NHSX decided to adopt a centralised model – which means data is uploaded to a remote server, where matches are made with other contacts, if someone develops symptoms.

However, after receiving criticism that this centralised approach could create privacy and data protection risks, it was revealed at the beginning of May that the government was still open to a decentralised approach – which means the data would be stored instead on the user’s handset.

But there was no update until the government announced this afternoon that the app is officially switching to the decentralised model, as developed by Apple and Google.

The covid-19 contact tracing app trial was launched on the Isle of Wight at the beginning of May, with a national rollout expected this month.

However three weeks after the launch of the government’s test and trace scheme, there is no sign of a finished version of the app and the DHSC has failed to clarify when it will be launched nationally. HSJ has asked how mucn was spent on the now-abandoned centralised version of the app.

A contract notice published this week shows a NASA contractor – Eggplant – was hired by the DHSC in mid-May to carry out testing on the app.

The contract – which is worth £213,600 – has been awarded up until 31 July 2020 to “test and develop security requirements for the NHS covid-19 app”.

The app was initially set to be a major part of the test and trace scheme, however more recently it was described by Baroness Harding as merely the “cherry on top of the cake”.

During a meeting of the government’s science and technology committee on Wednesday afternoon, minister for innovation Lord Bethell said the app “is not a priority”, adding he is not sure it would be rolled out by winter.

This contrasts with comments made last week by London Assembly member Fiona Twycross, who said the app was due to be launched in the autumn.

HSJ has approached NHSX for more details on the Eggplant contract and when national rollout is expected, however it did not respond before publication.