By Carole Dennett
After weeks of claims that the Isle of Wight was ‘leading the way’ with the contact tracing app. the BBC is now reporting that the app is now to be completely scrapped and replaced with one based on technology developed by Google and Apple which is being widely used elsewhere in the world. The app was launched on March 5 on the Island, but it faced claims that it was not compliant with data protection legislation, that it drained phone battery life and failed to work properly.
The Isle of Wight Green Party have responded to the news saying: “The good people of the Isle of Wight deserve an apology from this government. The decision to shelve the NHSX App was not taken today – they have known for weeks that the App just does not work, and yet still encouraged Islanders to download it. Why?
“Islanders stood up to the mark and downloaded it in good faith to ‘do their duty’ and ‘lead the way’. The reality was that the App had no NHS Ethics Approval, no privacy legislation and no declared success criteria.
“We were used as lab rats for a costly experiment said to be worth £250million. Someone has got rich out of this, and it is not the Isle of Wight. Like so much of this Covid Crisis, the Government has managed the development of this App appallingly. But they can make some amends.
“An apology and a thank you to the people of the Isle of Wight is the very least that the government must make, if we are to have any faith that Goverment understand the sacrifices made and the contribution given by Islanders throughout the last few weeks.”
The Government are expected to release a statement at 3.15pm today.
