Coronavirus: Contact Tracing

(asked on 24th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the 119 covid-19 hotline is fully accessible.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 9th November 2020

The Coronavirus Testing Contact Centre can be contacted on 119 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 0300 303 2713 in Scotland between the hours of 7am – 11pm, seven days a week. The service can be accessed by people with hearing or speech difficulties by calling 18001 119 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or 18001 0300 303 2713 in Scotland. There is a service for deaf people to speak to the Contact Centre using a sign language interpreter. This operates via a video link. More information on how to access the service is available at the following link:

www.interpreternow.co.uk

There are also pathways for non-digital users to book a test through the Contact Centre.

For those that do not speak English as a first language, the Contact Centre uses the Language Line interpreter service and staff are trained to manage language barriers, including through use of this service.

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