Hundreds of jobs in the North East are now at risk at the Integrated Covid Hub North East (ICHNE) - which has provided state-of-the-art Covid testing capacity, data-led public health advice and even helped with the Test and Trace effort.
The Government's UK Health Security Agency has announced it is ending its contract with ICHNE, and this will mean the end of Gateshead's Lighthouse Lab facility - which opened less than a year ago.
The UKHSA has made the decision after the Government's move to a so-called "Living with Covid" strategy mean it thinks a vast Covid-19 testing infrastructure is no longer needed.
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ICHNE has been run by the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust.
Just months ago - in the midst of the Omicron outbreak of Covid-19 - Newcastle Hospitals bosses issued a call for staff to apply for roles at the Lighthouse Lab and on February 11, staff contracts were extended until September 30.
But the rapid change of policy has upended plans.
ICHNE's managing director Martin Wilson - who is also the chief operating officer of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust - wrote to staff on Friday morning explaining the news.
In the letter, seen by ChronicleLive, Mr Wilson cites how the Lighthouse Lab has processed more than eight million Covid PCR tests and thanked "everyone involved" in ICHNE for doing a "fantastic job".
He also wrote: "It is because of this great work and the increased demand for our services due to the Omicron variant that I wrote to you on 11th February 2022 to advise that employment contracts had been extended to 30th September 2022 and that I would update you when we had further information to share on the future of our Covid hub.
"As you will be aware, the Government announced on 21st February 2022 their plans for 'Living with Covid'. This introduced a number of significant changes which have a major impact on demand for the services we provide."
He said the end of self-isolation when someone tests positive for Covid-19, contact tracing being scrapped, and free universal Covid testing provision ending on April 1 meant the UKHSA had told hospital bosses that, with the need for mass testing ending, ICHNE's services would not be required beyond March 31.
All staff on fixed term contracts are now at risk of redundancy - though bosses won't make formal decisions until the end of a 45-day consultation period which has yet to begin.
One of the staff members affected is Newcastle councillor Greg Stone. Coun Stone - who represents Manor Park for the Liberal Democrats - has been working in the lab itself.
He told ChronicleLive that the news was "tough to swallow" adding: "Clearly it's not great news. Particularly as we had been assured in the last few weeks about our jobs.
"It was only Christmas that there was a massive surge and we were working around the clock to process tests - but the Government has changed its policy.
"It's a great shame. It's a brilliant operation here with brilliant scientists. People have been working so incredibly hard as Covid was surging to turn around tests so quickly.
"A lot of people have been working flat out. We know obviously everyone was out clapping for the NHS frontline workers - but the way this is coming about is - as we're employed by the NHS Trust - a lot of job losses for NHS workers."
Coun Stone said he "recognised the pandemic has developed", but said: "I don't think Covid has gone away. If there's another outbreak, or another variant, then I think the country will be in a sticky position without the testing capacity from the Lighthouse Labs."
Even just a week ago, data experts at the ICHNE co-ordination and response centre published maps highlighting how health inequalities made local areas more vulnerable to Covid-19 - and spoke about how vital this information would be to fighting future pandemics.
In his letter to staff, Mr Wilson explained some aspects of ICHNE could be continued until March 2023. He said: "Currently, I expect that this may enable us to maintain the Innovation Lab and its staff until March 2023 as this service has secured new national innovation funding. I also anticipate that we may be able to explore whether there is a requirement for some coordination and response functions in the future."
In a statement, Martin Wilson said: "Our integrated Covid hub for the North East was established in the autumn of 2020, making us the only region in the country to bring together testing, tracing, innovative science and unique data analysis to lead in the fight against Covid-19.
"Everyone involved in the hub has done an incredible job to protect lives during the global pandemic. This has included processing eight million PCR tests, evaluating numerous new diagnostic tests and supporting many thousands of people through providing training, bespoke analysis, contact tracing, and assistance to local authority and NHS partners."
Explaining that the Government's change in policy had led to the news, he said his team would be working with staff to "do all that is reasonably possible" to reduce the number of staff at risk of redundancy.
He added: "In creating the integrated Covid hub, one of our ambitions was to provide new employment and training opportunities and to support a wider group of people into NHS public sector jobs.
"In doing this we have hopefully been able to offer the chance to develop skills and experience that will help many people to progress into new roles."
A UKHSA spokesperson said: "As part of the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities in history, NHS Test and Trace laboratories have played an absolutely critical role in managing Covid-19, based in every part of the UK.
"As free testing will soon be focused at specific groups to protect the vulnerable, we will see a significant drop in laboratory demand and the existing network is being consolidated accordingly.
"We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the remarkable achievements of the testing service throughout the pandemic."
The UKHSA also said it had "built resilience" into the system and had plans for "contingency capacity".
