A TIMELINE OF THE NHS TRACK AND TRACE APP

We look into the development of the NHS Track and Trace app... And why it took so long to come out.

The NHS Track and Trace app has had a total of 14 million people download it, with a massive push from the government for citizens to get the app on their phone. Even national newspapers like The Mail, Telegraph and Guardian had the newly minted app taking up most the papers front cover (and getting the Mail and Guardian to agree is maybe more impressive than getting 11 million to download the app).

But it's definitely not been all smooth sailing since its release, in fact, the app has had many controversies since its release. From a delayed release, questions of the app’s usefulness and data privacy worries, it’s a far cry from a concept that Professor Christophe Fraser, of Oxford University’s Big Data Institute said would be “very simple”.

This articles here to give you a timeline, and help you understand why it took so long for the Track and Trace app to come out.

Note: For links to financial times articles to work, type the name of the article on Google.

March:

18th: NSHX talked about the idea of a Track and Trace app. Matthew Gould, chief executive of NHSX, said: “NHSX are looking at whether app-based solutions might be helpful in tracking and managing coronavirus, and we have assembled expertise from inside and outside the organisation to do this as rapidly as possible.”

This new plan is met with praise and is backed up by both Professor Christophe Fraser, of Oxford University’s Big Data Institute and Dr David Bonsall researcher at Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine, who noted that new technology will be needed to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Dr Christophe Fraser: “Coronavirus is unlike previous epidemics and requires multiple inter-dependent containment strategies. Our analysis suggests that almost half of coronavirus transmissions occur in the very early phase of infection, before symptoms appear, so we need a fast and effective mobile app for alerting people who have been exposed.”

At the same time, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock announce that NHS digital has more power to disseminate information to approved organisations under the Control of Patient Information regulations (COPI)1. Dr Jem Rashbass, Executive Director of Master Registries and Data at NHS Digital, explained to the NHS Digitals board why more info gathering is necessary

Dr Jem Rashbass: “We are facing one of the most significant challenges in modern times and information about the virus, and people’s experience of it, is key to the research in pursuit of a vaccine or to gain new insights about the disease.

“NHS Digital will work closely with trusted partners to ensure that data is collected, analysed and disseminated in a way which best supports the whole system.”

This last piece of information on freer use of information is important, as it hints at the heavy importance digital information will have in Track and Trace. This approach will also cause problems for the scheme in the future…

April:

12th: Matt Hancock confirmed that the Track and Trace app was in production on the government’s coronavirus briefing and talks about plan for the apps use. Hancock says the phone will track everyone with the app who has crossed each other. If someone shows symptoms, they can tell the app, which will notify everyone a yellow warning. If a person has confirmed to have Covid-19 it will send a red notification.

Matt Hancock: “If you become unwell you can securely tell this new NHS app, and the app will then send an alert anonymously to other app users who you’ve been in significant contact with,”

However, privacy concerns are brought up as Dr Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, head of the Computational Privacy Group at Imperial College London, warns of the app collecting controversial information, such as location data.

Matt Hancock promises that “all data will be handled according to the highest ethical and security standards” and that data wouldn’t be stored “any longer than is needed”.

16th: The NHS goes into conflict with Google and Apple after arguments over data protection. Google and Apple encouraged world health services to use a decentralised model, warning against governments collecting data on people that use the app.

A centralised model means that the information is collected in area (like a server) and Apple and Google worry that all this information in one area could cause a massive leak of people information if targeted by the wrong people.

This is a problem because of the use of Bluetooth technology. The government’s plan for Bluetooth technology was for the app to track users that have crossed each other. Phones require the screen to be on in order to use Bluetooth for data protection reasons, meaning the planed HNS app would have to wake up every time it passes someone with the app and use a lot of battery. Google and Apple did lay back restrictions on the screen being on with new API. The problem for government is this API restricts the information that the NHS can collect

28th: The government decides to continue with their plans for the app and announces that it will be ready for a trial run in three weeks, ignoring Apple and Google's new API. While ignoring the API gives them an advantage with collecting more data, a disadvantage is the phone will have to wake up every time it uses the Bluetooth technology, using up way more battery.

May:

5th: The Isle of Wight becomes a testing ground for the new NHS Track and Trace app. NHS staff from the Isle of Wight become the first to get access to the app, followed by the Isle of Wight residents who get access to the app on Thursday the 7th.

7th: Pressure continues to mount on the centralised model app as the Parliament's Human Rights Committee lists concerns with the model and is cautious that the app is being pushed “without there having been the opportunity for Parliamentary debate and consideration of the alternative”. The committee says that it wants the app to be more thoroughly scrutinised in parliament.

There is also concerns that Matthew Gould promise that “data will only ever be used for NHS care, management, evaluation and research” is too “broad and unclear” a statement.

The paper also notes there is no conclusive proof that Track and Trace app’s have any notable effect on lowering the rate of Covid-19.

Also released is an article by privacy international, that had multiple concerns about the app. They also noted how surprisingly little battery the apple version of the phone used, giving concerns it may not be functioning properly…

8th: The Financial Times reports that NHSX have begun production of a second app that uses Apple and Google's decentralised API. A person working on production of the app told the FT said that the NHSX started facing more pressure from Google, Apple, privacy campaigners and even parliament.

The FT interview also claimed the trial came with other problems, such as heavy battery usage, problems with getting the app to work with Apple phones and the app only working on newer models of phones.

Robert Jenrick, communities secretary, goes on to the Andre Marr show and denies that a second app is being worked on, instead saying different models are always being looked at, and they will change it if need be.

Robert Jenrick: “As far as I’m aware, we’re not developing a second app but we are paying attention to other apps that exist elsewhere in the world.”

“If we need to adapt our app, or move to a different model, obviously we will do.”

12th: Matt Hancock tells Sky News that the app is expected to be rolled out by mid-May. Matt Hancock says that “the Isle of Wight project has gone well so far”.

Matt Hancock: “We’ve learned a lot about how the app operates, also about people who don’t have the app — how to make sure that they can get testing and the contact tracing can work for them — the interaction of the technology and the human-based contact tracing,”

13th: Experts say they are surprised by Matt Hancock’s statement that the app will be rolled out mid-May. Gus Hosein, a member of the NHS Covid-19 App Data Ethics Advisory Board, told the Times that not enough time has been used observing the trial run of the app in the Isle of Wight.

20th: The Guardian released an article saying the app will not be available until June. Insiders tell the guardian that due to ironing out problems with the app saying, “This is a complicated thing to do and get right,”

A government source told the Guardian that the apps importance’s has been overestimated saying “There’s been a bit too much focus on the app.” And that the app should be seen more as “a support: a digital supplement”.

June:

4th: Chief operating officer, Tony Prestedge, says the app may not be fully operational till September or October. Tony Prestedge told staff on a webinar that the app will not open at full capacity and instead keep developing after its release.

Tony Prestedge: “I am sure when Dido [chief executive of the Track and Trace scheme] announces this service later she will make clear that it is an imperfect service at launch that we will improve over time and make it world-class by the time that we are moving towards the September or October time”.

18th: The centralised Track and Trace model is abandoned. The Government release a press release saying there rolling in Apple and Google's decentralised model into the existing app. This is due to some phones Bluetooth falling to pick up other smartphones. For instance, in the Isle of Wight trial registered 75 per cent of Android handsets and only 4 per cent of iPhones.

During a downing street briefing, Hancock suggested that the app could have worked if Apple and Google had changed their restrictions on Bluetooth.

Matt Hancock: "Apple software prevents iPhones being used effectively for contact tracing unless you're using Apple's own technology,"

"Our app won't work because Apple won't change that system... and their app can't measure distance well enough to a standard that we are satisfied with."

25th: It's revealed that the app has cost nearly £12 million to produce so far. Minster for innovation, Lord Bethell, revealed by June 30th that the cost of developing the app would be £11.8 million

August:

13th: The NHS’s new Apple and Google model Track and Trace app trial starts. The Isle of Wight, the London borough of Newham and NHS volunteer responders will be the first to be able to access the app. The app will not only use Bluetooth to tell you when you’ve been in contact with someone else with the app who’s been diagnosed with Covid-19, but will also:

· Inform you of your areas risk based of postcode.

· A QR scanner for restraints, instead of having to sign your name.

· Book tests and check results on the phone.

· A countdown for how long you have to stay in isolation if you catch it.

However, problems with the app have still been noted. For instance, there’s still problems with getting the phone to detect other phones within 2 meters, the governments recommended distancing. When the apps boundary is set at 2 meters 31 percent of cases are missed and 45 percent of cases were flagged incorrectly.

However, these stats get better when the phones boundary is set to 5 meters, with 99 percent of phones being detected, indicating the flaw of the original app simply not detecting other phones is gone. The team is confident they get the accuracy under two meters up.

September:

11th: English and Welsh businesses are told to prepare for the official release of the Track and Trace app. Businesses are given a QR code that app users can scan when they enter the store instead of having to give there contact details. The idea is if a business is infected, they can send out a notification to everyone with the app warning about it.

24th: The app is officially released. After months of production, delays and controversies the app finally releases to English and Welsh citizens, and Matt Hancock urges citizens of the UK to download it.

Matt Hancock: “With infection rates rising we must use every tool at our disposal to prevent transmission, including the latest technology.

“We have worked extensively with tech companies, international partners, and privacy and medical experts – and learned from the trials – to develop an app that is secure, simple to use and will help keep our country safe.

“Today’s launch marks an important step forward in our fight against this invisible killer and I urge everyone who can to download and use the app to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

And it seems his pleas are met, as according to the Google store alone it was downloaded more than a million times.

However, the release of the app hasn’t gone without concern. The Open Rights Group (OPG) and Big Brother Watch (BBW), two digital right activist groups, have both criticised government for its lack of transparency when it comes to people’s data.

Both groups have instructed AWO, a data rights agency, to send a legal letter to Matt Hancock demanding to know how businesses will handle people’s personal information. OPG and BBW are concerned that people who don’t have the app will have to give personal information to businesses E.G: If you go to a restaurant and don’t have the app your expected to give the restaurant your contact details so they can get in touch if Covid-19 has been found in the restraint. The groups say that government hasn’t done enough to ensure safeguards are in place for businesses not to misuse this information.

Jim Killock, the executive director of ORG, describes the governments current efforts to protect personal information as “a failure” due to the government not publishing a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA). A DIPA is required by law to ensure that every risk with data has been safely assessed. The Government has already admitted to not writing one up for the Track and Trace system.

Jim Killock: “Government’s first duty is to protect its citizens. This Government’s reckless behaviour is once again endangering public health. We have long argued that the Government’s test and trace programme must be trusted by the public in order to effectively protect us from COVID-19.

“This Government’s failure to conduct the legally required data safety assessment means that no one knows how people’s details will be safely and legally collected, stored and protected by bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. No one knows what will happen if things goes wrong and this Government doesn’t seem to have thought this through.

“This Government has had 6 months to fix the test and trace programme and on the eve of the launch of this App one thing is for certain; this Government is flying by the seat of its pants.”

26th: The Department of Health says its urgently trying to fix a flaw with the app, after its revealed that the app will not alert users of tests they did from a Public Health England lab or a NHS hospital. The official twitter for the app called “The NHS Covid-19 App” revealed this after they were asked why they hadn’t received a code to let the app know they had been tested.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are urgently working to enable positive tests for people who aren’t already given a code to be added to the COVID-19 App.

“NHS Test and Trace will continue to contact people by text, email or phone if your test is positive advising you to self-isolate and for those who don’t have a code, the contact tracers will shortly be able to provide codes to insert in the app.

“If you book your test via the app the results will be automatically recorded in the app and the isolation countdown will be updated.”

The 26th also sees a massive push for the app in the public eye as advertisements for the app can be seen on the front page of nearly every national newspaper.

October:

1st: Another problem is found with the app, as people are wrongly given exposure alerts. People reported they had received the notification “Someone you were near reported having Covid-19” but were not given any information on what to do. This is because the message is an error.

The real message you receive when you cross someone who’s tested positive is: “The app has detected that you have been in contact with someone who has had coronavirus. Please stay at home and self-isolate to keep yourself and others safe”.

The Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the wrong notification was a default messages sent by Google and Appel and should be ignored.

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Its been a bumpy road for the Track and Trace app. What started as an attempt to show the UK’s technological savvy and quick thinking in times of crisis ended up as an app that was plagued with problems with functionality, privacy, and trust since its release.

The government's focus on the use of centralised data was met with considerable praise in its blueprint stage. However, too many concerns with data rights with parliament, pressure groups, and perhaps most importantly of all from Google and Apple, made the idea ineffective.

However, with 14 million people having downloaded the app so far it will no doubt be an important tool for how the Government addresses quarantine in the future. Time will tell how valuable phone technology can be when it comes to helping in pandemics.

If you’re interested in more articles documenting the UK’s handling of Covid-19, then like and share the article, and be sure to subscribe to Stoked Curiosities newsletter.