Ministers and MPs Praise Randox’s ‘Life-Saving’ Role In Delivering Mass Testing During Pandemic
Ministers and MPs Praise Randox’s ‘Life-Saving’ Role In Delivering Mass Testing During Pandemic
18th November 2021
Speaking in the House of Commons on behalf of the government on November 17, Health Minister Gillian Keegan praised Randox’s 40 years of experience in testing and diagnostics. She confirmed to the House that as early as March 2020, Randox already had lab-based PCR testing capacity for Covid-19.
Recognising the imperative of testing as a weapon against the pandemic and facing a shortage of proven testing capacity, she said “the Government had made the common sense decision to work with companies that had existing diagnostic capability.”
The Minister continued: “The initial challenge that (Randox) faced was the challenge facing governments the world over: a shortage of machinery and transport. Nonetheless, it quickly overcame them to play a critical role in our pandemic response.”
She also confirmed that in June 2020, Randox was ahead of all other labs in process, plans, and reporting. A six-month-extension was agreed in September 2020, and by March 2021 Randox was exceeding contract targets, processing more than 120,000 tests in a single day.
Keegan said to date, that Randox has carried out over 15 million tests for Covid-19, and identified over 700,000 positive cases. “That is 700,000 people who might otherwise have gone on to spread the disease,” She continued: “As a result of this testing capacity, they received the right advice to isolate, thereby protecting their friends, their family and society at large.”
Her recognition of Randox’s crucial role in combatting the pandemic at its height was echoed by Maggie Throup MP, Minister for Vaccines and Public Health, who said that working with Randox was a decision which had “saved many thousands of lives”.
She told the House: “contracts with companies such as Randox have been some of the essential building blocks without which we would never have built what is now one of the largest testing networks in the world.”
Throup said she “utterly rejected” the idea that Randox had received any kind of special treatment.
“Our partnership with Randox is simply a reflection of the situation in which we found ourselves in March 2020”, she clarified, “facing a global pandemic of unknown and unprecedented proportions and acting as a responsible Government should. We worked against genuine fears that we would run out of vital testing equipment, that we would not have the capacity to test people and that the deadly virus might continue to spread from person to person, silent and undetected.”
“Working with Randox was the right thing to do, it was the responsible thing to do and, quite simply, it was a decision that has saved many thousands of lives”, she told MPs.
For all media enquiries, please contact Ian Monk on ian@ianmonk.com or +44 7970 026072 / + 44 203 011 1933
Randox in the media
Latest News
FAQs
House of Commons Debate | Randox Statement
17th November 2021: House of Commons Debate | Randox Statement
Randox will be pleased to co-operate fully in laying before the House all the material required.
Public disclosure will demonstrate the extraordinary efficiency and value for money provided by Randox through contracts awarded in full compliance with government regulations at a time of national crisis.
Contrary to much of what has been written and broadcast, lobbying played no role in the awarding of these contracts.
The company has 40 years experience in testing and diagnostics. It is proud of its performance and delivery under the contracts awarded to it on merit by the Government. They resulted in the delivery of more than 21 million Covid tests, 15 million of them to the National Testing Programme from the start of the emergency in the Spring of 2020.
At this time, hindered by global shortages and less experience than Randox, other laboratories were simply not able to provide whole-system capabilities to deliver the tests which the World Health Organisation and the UK government agreed were crucial to combating the pandemic.
11th November 2021: COVID Contracts | Randox Statement
Randox states categorically that political lobbying played no role in the award of Covid contracts to the company. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) contracts to provide Covid-19 testing were awarded on merit to Randox as the largest healthcare diagnostic company from the UK. The entire process was transparent and compliant with government regulations in a time of national crisis.
Randox has almost 40 years experience in testing and diagnostics: it was one of the first companies in the world to develop a Covid-19 test and to have developed extensive laboratory, IT and logistic infrastructure to support large scale testing operations. The decision to award Covid-19 contracts was fully validated by the company’s performance and delivery under the terms of the contracts.
The company was awarded its initial Covid contract on 30 Mar 20 and, within a short period, had exceeded the initial Covid-19 testing capability of the entire NHS.
Subsequent DHSC planning required Randox to deliver 17,000 tests per day by the end of April and more beyond then. To facilitate and ultimately enable these extraordinary levels of delivery, Randox was temporarily allocated 5 extraction systems from universities in order to increase capacity. DHSC directed the Army to collect equipment, in line with their support for all Pillar 2 laboratories.
This was a pragmatic and transparent move by the DHSC to meet a critical national need to save lives and ease overwhelming pressure on the NHS. The extraction systems were returned once the systems ordered by Randox, against the backdrop of a global shortage of such equipment, had been delivered and installed.
Randox and its staff have striven tirelessly and innovatively to support the national Covid-19 testing effort. We are proud of our collective achievement at a time of crisis in being the only Pillar 2 laboratory to have reported in excess of 100,000 Covid-19 results in one day.
For all media enquiries, please contact Ian Monk on ian@ianmonk.com or +44 7970 026072 / + 44 203 011 1933
Randox in the media
Latest News
FAQs
Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulates Randox
Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulates Randox in House of Commons 22 Sep 2020
On Tuesday 22nd September 2020, in the House of Commons, Prime Minster Boris Johnson congratulated Randox for our vital role at national level in helping to deliver the Government’s testing programme.
The statement from the Prime Minister came in response to Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, who asked the Prime Minister if he would commend Randox for the work we have done. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP said;
Randox has committed 99% of its Covid testing capacity to that programme and on 19th September they successfully reported almost 10,000 samples beyond the recommended daily rate.
The Prime Minister responded by saying;
I do indeed congratulate Randox and all the other businesses involved and we are massively expanding testing the whole time.
Many thanks again for your ongoing support.
Our staff are our best asset and we salute your hard work and commitment.
For further information please email randoxpr@randox.com
Randox in the media
Latest News
FAQs
Matt Hancock pays tribute to Randox staff in House of Commons
Matt Hancock thanks Randox staff in House of Commons 21 September 2020
On Monday 21st September 2020, in the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, personally thanked Randox staff for the role we play within the National Testing Programme.
He said;
Randox deliver a very significant number of tests every single day – a growing number – in fact, they are currently outperforming the allocation we have asked them to deliver and I pay tribute to every single person who works at Randox for the work that they have done and the part that they have played in keeping people safe.
Because everyone who gets a Randox test result, like every other test result, gets more information with which they can keep themselves safe and we have more information with which we can try to keep the whole of society safe.
Our work has greatly expanded the capacity for testing in the UK and we will continue to ramp up our capabilities, to both save lives and promote a timely return to a more normal society.
We thank our staff for their ongoing support, and for their commitment to the work that we do, which is making a real and positive difference.
For further information please email randoxpr@randox.com
