Op BARTON

Media Manager
15th May 2021
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Operation BARTON was the Kent contribution to the countrywide Operation EAGLE, the surge testing for the South African variant of COVID 19 which had first emerged in South Africa in late 2019.

BACKGROUND

Routine analysis of 5% of Covid-19 positive samples found over 100 people with the South African variant in the UK. A few of these individuals had no known links to South Africa, suggesting transmission of this variant is occurring within communities in the UK. 

In response to this, a decision was made by Public Health England (PHE) to instigate a testing programme in a number of areas within the UK with the aim of :

  • Tracking the SA variant and understanding whether it is in the communities targeted, and if so where
  • Identifying cases and controlling the spread of this variant by asking positive cases and contacts to self-isolate

One such individual was identified in the ME15 area of Maidstone.

PLANNING

KSAR were contacted early on Friday 29th January by Kent Police to ascertain whether we would be prepared to assist in the surge testing programme within the ME15 area of Maidstone alongside the emergency services and the voluntary sector coordinated by Kent Resilience Forum.

The Search Management team discussed the request via Teams and unanimously agreed that KSAR would definitely be willing to help, and we quickly set about coming up with a list as to what we could provide etc.

On the morning of Saturday 30th January, we got together with members of the Search and Marine Unit from Kent Police for an initial planning conference, outlining the details received from PHE and attempting to anticipate potential requirements.  It was evident that this was going to be quite a substantial task; ME15 contains 19,500 properties and has a population of just shy of 48,000 and the aim was to distribute and collect 10,000 tests to a sample of those living in the targeted area.

We were provided with a list of all the address within the target area and we quickly set about creating some mapping to allow us to formulate basic plans ready for a Silver Command conference later in the day.  

In addition to coming up with a plan on how to deploy the teams across the area we decided that an ability to track which address had been visited, how many kits dropped off and how many kits collected would be a real asset and a flash of inspiration led to the creation of a basic system using Microsoft Forms and a QR code allow detail to be recorded.  Both the mapping and the MS form proved invaluable in the days to come.

Late in the afternoon of the Saturday the members of the team return to their homes and spent the remainder of the weekend refining the mapping and the plans and also entering all the addresses into the MS form to make the information gathering as accurate as possible.  

This was all put before the team from Kent Police and the Kent Resilience Forum on the Monday, and we awaited the governmental announcement of the surge testing programme which came early afternoon meaning it was all systems go for Tuesday 2nd February.

DEPLOYMENT

Dave Schooledge has covered the deployment of the teams so I will skim over this but things to consider:

  • Teams deployed:
    • KSAR (overall control)
    • Kent Police
    • Kent Fire & Rescue
    • Maidstone Community Wardens
    • Re:Act
    • South East 4X4 Response
    • Rapid Relief Team (providing catering support)
  • Deployed out from Kent Police Headquarters on Sutton Road
  • All teams tracked using digital mapping linked to the radio systems carried
  • Volunteers used their mobile phones to enter the details of residence visited and kits dropped off/collected
  • Drop off location established at the YMCA on Cripple Street in Loose for those not going to be in for collection
  • Specialist teams deployed to assist the vulnerable to ensure they could also be tested

As the first day drew to a close the information collected on the MS form allowed statistics to be provided showing:

  • Addresses visited
  • Whether the residents answered or not 
  • Time of delivery & collection
  • Number of kits delivered & collected
  • Percentage of success (delivered vs collected)
  • Kits being dropped off at the YMCA

Not only did this allow statistical analysis of the operation but also allowed us to answer queries from the public residing in the area.  Furthermore, it allowed Public Health Kent to feed back the progress of the operation to central government on a daily basis.

Through sheer hard work by all those delivering and collecting the test kits we managed to complete the task within three days, ending late on the Wednesday evening having delivered 9,633 test kits with a collection rate of 85.7%

SUMMARY

Op BARTON was truly a team effort, including those pounding the streets, those behind the scenes planning and controlling the deployment, those providing logistical support to ensure there was a ready supply of kits (and a ready supply of refreshments).  Many of those deployed were volunteers, who had travelled from across the county to help protect the community.  

The population of ME 15 also rose to the challenge and the deliveries were met with understanding and good humour.