THE former leader of BCP Council has still yet to receive a response to concerns raised over the past five months about practises at the coronavirus testing centre in Creekmoor.

Last month councillor Vikki Slade wrote to the head of Test and Trace, Dido Harding, calling for an independent investigation into a series of allegations about the running of the facility.

However, she has yet to have any response, despite also having raised many of the issues separately as far back as May, shortly after the site was set up.

Among the concerns raised by Cllr Slade were problems with the contracts of testing centre staff, alleged data breaches and inaccurate temperature readings being recorded for stored testing kits.

In a letter written last month, she said it was “unacceptable” that the complaints she had made dating back to May could “be ignored or dismissed so easily”.

“I am asking you to conduct an independent investigation into the operation of this site and the issues raised,” she said.

“I have received dozens of requests from residents to remove private companies from this role and I am concerned that the need for profit, and government targets is taking precedence over the need to provide a good service for our communities.”

Cllr Slade said the only issue that had since been resolved since she wrote the letter was the availability of slots for testing at the Creekmoor centre.

However, she has still yet to have a response to her letter calling for an independent investigation, nor to follow-ups sent to the county’s MPs.

She said: “I consider it hugely disrespectful, unprofessional and dangerous that no one has investigated the concerns that were brought to me by concerned residents and employees and I feel very let down that having escalated this I still have nothing to tell local people.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted the Department of Health and Social Care asking whether it was looking into the concerns raised by Cllr Slade and whether it would conduct an independent investigation into the issues but it did not respond.