Competitor Watch

In an industry first, major names in the highly competitive parcel industry have joined forces to create the scale required to manage the collection and delivery of Covid-19 home testing kits.

The Carrier Consortium, which includes Yodel, Menzies Distribution, DX, Diamond and UPS Healthcare, is operating seven days per week across England, delivering a strictly controlled cool chain solution which ensures the temperature of the tests remains constant from pick-up to delivery.

The collected tests feed in to a study conducted by Ipsos Mori and Imperial College London for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to assist in understanding the prevalence of the virus.

Created by Warrington-based The Delivery Group, The Carrier Consortium, is providing access to over 10,000 vehicles, 200 facilities and a combined workforce in excess of 16,000 employees.

The Delivery Group manages the operation, allocating home collections, bulk consolidation and timed delivery into the testing laboratories for analysis. Additionally, The Delivery Group has created a booking website, developed with technology partner Mosaic Online Systems, and a dedicated telephone helpline centre at Warrington. Recipients can book their test collection slot online or over the phone using a unique URL.

Kelly Beaver, managing director, public affairs, Ipsos MORI, said: ‘The Consortium has been a fantastic partner to Ipsos MORI, Imperial College and DHSC. With a solutions-focused, innovative team at the helm they have rapidly ensured delivery of what is a new and incredibly challenging logistics process at scale.’

James Wilkins, operations and IT director, The Delivery Group, added: ‘Our Consortium members and service suppliers have reacted magnificently and achieved the impossible, creating a new UK service from scratch and against the clock. Together, we will continue to improve processes and create an even better consumer experience as we progress through the next phases.’

Lord Bethell, Minister for Innovation at the DHSC recently recorded a special video to thank colleagues for our own role in the huge effort to provide Covid-19 testing for the nation.

Royal Mail is supporting this important national effort against coronavirus in three key ways:

• Royal Mail Relay continues to collect samples from numerous drive-through test centres across the UK to designated testing labs.
• A UK-wide, seven days-a-week home collection service, where samples are collected from homes and returned to testing labs via the Royal Mail network and using our Tracked Returns service.
• Customers are able to use our priority postboxes to post their samples.

All members of the public can now apply for a Covid-19 test kit through the NHS portal. Anyone using a home swab test will be encouraged to use one of over 30,000 Royal Mail priority postboxes across the UK to return their tests.

It is estimated that by moving to this system rather than ordering a courier to collect the test upon completion, tests can be processed, and results issued 20 hours faster.

Click here for more on how Covid-19 home testing samples can be posted using our priority postboxes.