Contact tracing app could exacerbate inequalities

The Health Foundation has warned that the government’s delayed contact tracing app has the potential to exacerbate existing health inequalities, leaving some people at greater risk of coronavirus than others.

New polling, carried out by Ipsos MORI, analysed the UK public’s awareness of and attitudes towards the planned smartphone app, which, alongside the telephone-based NHS Test and Trace service, is seeking to reduce the spread of the virus.

However, while 62 per cent of people asked said that they are likely to download the app once it is released, the polling revealed a significant 'digital divide' along the lines of occupation, educational level and age.

The Health Foundation says that 73 per cent of people in managerial, administrative or professional jobs say they are likely to download the app, but among the routine and manual workers, state pensioners and the unemployed, this figure falls to just 50 per cent.

Furthermore, while 71 per cent of those with a degree say they are likely to download the app, this falls to 63 per cent for those with A-levels or equivalent only, 59 per cent for those with GCSEs or equivalent, and 38 per cent among those with no formal qualifications.

Adam Steventon, director of Data Analytics at the Health Foundation, said: “The NHS contact tracing app could play a critical role in the fight against Covid-19, expanding the number of people who are traced and speeding up the process. With a virus that is transmitted as quickly as coronavirus, this kind of instant contact tracing could prove invaluable.

“But there’s a significant risk that many will be left behind. The impact of Covid-19 is already being felt unequally across society and appears to be having a disproportionate impact on people living in more deprived areas, older people, and some ethnic minorities. Within that context, it’s especially concerning that people in lower paid jobs and those with less formal education say they are less likely to download and use the app, and of course not everyone has a smartphone.

“NHSX must ensure that the benefits of the app are experienced by the communities who need these the most, while ensuring that the potential negative consequences of the app, such as false alerts, do not fall on those least able to withstand them. It is also vital that those who do not have access to the app are protected as a priority by the government’s wider Test and Trace system, and that a more comprehensive strategy to tackle health inequalities is put in place.”