ENGLAND - TRACK AND TRACE FROM 4th JULY 2020

The Track and Trace guidance was published for England on 2nd July 2020, here.

GDPR allows us to request contact information from your staff, customers and visitors and share it with NHS Test and Trace to help minimise the transmission of COVID-19 and support public health and safety.

By maintaining records of staff, customers and visitors, and sharing these with NHS Test and Trace where requested, you can help us to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus. Containing outbreaks early is crucial to reduce the spread of COVID-19, protect the NHS and social care sector, and save lives. This will help to avoid the reintroduction of lockdown measures and support the country to return to, and maintain, a more normal way of life.

From 29th March 2021: Venues must ask and record every customer and visitor (over the age of 16) the following details (unless they have ‘checked in’ using the NHS COVID-19 app):

Customers and visitors

• the name of each customer or visitor (over the age of 16)

• a contact phone number for each customer or visitor. If a phone number is not available, you should ask for their email address instead, or if neither are available, then postal address

• date of visit, arrival time and, where possible, departure time

• the name of the assigned staff member, if a customer or visitor will interact with only one member of staff. This should be recorded alongside the name of the customer or visitor

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To support NHS Test and Trace, hold records for 21 days.

This reflects the incubation period for COVID-19 (which can be up to 14 days) and an additional 7 days to allow time for testing and tracing. After 21 days, this information should be securely disposed of or deleted. The requirement to dispose of the data relates to a record that is created solely for the purpose of NHS Test and Trace.

Alternatively you may scan the QR Code at reception on each day of your stay

The NHS COVID-19 app has a feature that allows users to quickly and easily ‘check in’ to your venue by scanning the code.

Should someone choose to check in with the official NHS QR code poster, a venue should check their phone screen to ensure they have successfully checked in.

NHS Test and Trace will ask for these records only where it is necessary, either because someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 has listed your premises as a place they visited recently, or because your premises have been identified as the location of a potential local outbreak of COVID-19.

NHS Test and Trace is a key part of the country’s ongoing COVID-19 response.

NHS Test and Trace includes dedicated contact tracing staff working at national level under the supervision of Public Health England (PHE) and local public health experts who manage more complex cases. Local public health experts include both PHE health protection teams and local authority public health staff.

You can read further information on how NHS Test and Trace works.

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