30,000 Covid-19 Tests a Day | AI Digital Project Management

In April 2020, Health Secretary Matt Hancock challenged the UK science community to undertake 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day by the end of the month with UK Biocentre charged with playing a key role in hitting this ambitious target.

AI Digital, committed to supporting Covid-19 testing

AI Digital was asked by UK Biocentre to provide the project management services needed to set up a major COVID-19 testing facility at its Milton Keynes laboratories. For the lab to play its part in the national testing challenge, it needed to undertake 30,000 tests a day during the first wave of the pandemic, which would require an unprecedented amount of complex change and logistical management.

Our Approach

AI Digital collaborated with UK Biocentre staff, senior management and equipment suppliers to repurpose the existing laboratories so they were capable of providing the capacity required for such a colossal undertaking.

To deliver a successful outcome, AI Digital identified the key project workstreams needed to roll out the testing service before designing and executing a plan and governance structure to ensure the workstreams worked in tandem. These interdependent workstreams included:

Building setup
Science operations
Human resources
Procurement and supply chain management

Data analysis and LIMS
IT
Communications
Supplier management
Operational sustainability.

The Result

Working seven days a week for four weeks – while adhering to strict social distancing rules – AI Digital and its partners ensured UK Biocentre was able to hit its expansion targets.

Its labs are now able to analyse many thousands of samples every day with testing capacity increasing daily, making the UK Biocentre in Milton Keynes part of the largest diagnostic testing network the country has ever seen. AI Digital is proud to have played its part in this unprecedented effort.

“AI Digital provided vital project management services which allowed the UK Biocentre to upscale its Covid-19 testing capacity within very a challenging time timescale. The size and complexity of this work required a dedicated project management service able to focus on what really mattered. We appreciated working within a partnership where mutual trust and respect were put front and centre, and where we weren’t simply treated as a company hiring in a supplier. Yes, we were expecting a company that would support and work hard for us – but we weren’t expecting to actually enjoy working with a partner so much!”