BUSINESSES are being encouraged to collect customers’ details by Wiltshire Council to help with the NHS Test and Trace programme.

Contact tracing is an important way of controlling the transmission of Covid-19 and involves identifying all the people who have been in contact with a person who has tested positive.

Depending on the nature and duration of the contact, these people may require advice or treatment to prevent the virus spreading further.

The council says maintaining temporary records of staff, customers and visitors, and sharing these with NHS Test and Trace where requested, can help identify people who may have been exposed to the virus.

It says this is particularly important in premises where customers and visitors spend a longer time in one place and potentially come into close contact with other people outside their household such as pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, cinemas, hairdressers, beauticians, tattooists, libraries and places of worship.

Leader of Wiltshire Council Philip Whitehead said: “Local businesses in Wiltshire have been absolutely fantastic in rising to the various challenges presented by COVID-19. They’ve already done so much to ensure their premises are safe for their customers and staff.

“It’s now really important for businesses to take these further steps, as we all need to play our part to help stop the spread of Covid-19.”

The information to be collected for NHS Test and Trace includes:

STAFF

- The names of staff who work at the premises

- A contact phone number for each member of staff

- The dates and times that staff are at work

CUSTOMERS AND VISITORS

- The name of the customer or visitor. If there is more than one person, then the name of the lead member of the group and the number of people in the group

- A contact phone number for each customer or visitor or for the lead member of a group

- Date of visit, arrival time and, where possible, departure time

- If a customer will interact with only one member of staff eg a hairdresser, the name of that member of staff

If businesses already have a booking system, then this can be used to collect the information.

Customers and visitors can choose to opt out, so in this instance, the information gathered for booking purposes must not be shared with NHS Test and Trace.

Records should be kept for 21 days following which they can be securely disposed of or deleted.

Businesses that are collecting contact details as well as having face coverings and social distancing measures in place provide greater confidence to their customers that they are taking their safety seriously and their customers are more likely to return again and again.