Residents sent miles away for Covid-19 tests while local centres see 'low usage'

Covid-19 testing centres have been set up in towns including Cannock, councillors have heard at meetings this week. But people trying to book tests through the national system have reported being unable to access appointments within Staffordshire.

Staffordshire County Council’s director of health and care Dr Richard Harling has said there are national issues with the testing system – and advice has been given by Government not to direct people to local centres.

County councillors spoke at a meeting on Tuesday of the challenges faced by residents in booking tests.

And Cannock Chase Council leader George Adamson told a full meeting of the district authority on Wednesday that the town’s test centre had experienced “very low usage”.

He said: “Members may be aware of the local testing site at the Civic Centre. The latest available figures from the county council from the end of August are worrying low about the usage.

“The highest usage is 42 per cent and the lowest is 15 per cent which is a very low usage – especially when you hear of people being sent all over the country for testing.

“Someone contacted my wife today who wanted a test for her daughter. She tried for days on the phone and couldn’t get one – eventually she was offered a test in Scotland.

“She took her daughter to the Cannock site and walked straight in. It’s great we have the centre in Cannock but it needs to be used. You don’t have to book an appointment.

“The system appears to be in chaos. It’s very frustrating.”

Councillor Sue Woodward, speaking at Staffordshire County Council’s corporate review committee meeting on Tuesday, said she had a case referred to her of a Burntwood resident that had been unable to get a test unless they travelled to Oldham.

Councillor Charlotte Atkins said: “I had a phone call from a resident in Biddulph saying that they tried to get a test – the nearest was Oldham 32 miles away but they had no tests until the end of next week. The next nearest was 98 miles away and there were no home tests available.

“There is a real concern, particularly when residents are going to get coughs and colds because it is the season for coughs and colds. They can’t get the testing done and that creates a certain amount of concern.

“The mobile test centre has come to Leek but residents didn’t seem to be aware of that – why is that not notified to local people, or if it is how is it done? Is it kept secret because you want to increase the testing capacity without letting people know that is available to them?

“I wanted to know what was happening because some people might not be able to do a 200 mile round trip and therefore probably wouldn’t get tested.”

Councillor John Francis said he had gone for a test at the Beaconside centre more than a week ago and found just two other cars waiting.

He said: “We rang up on the Saturday, I was in at 11am on the Sunday and there was one car in front of me and one car behind me and that was it. It was an excellent facility and we had no problem – 24 hours later had the negative result.

“It worked really well, so I don’t know why people are being referred to other areas. Stafford seems quite good.”

Dr Harling said: “Testing is a problem at the moment. There is a shortage nationally of laboratory capacity.

“What that means is tests are being prioritised for those areas that are in the higher bands nationally. If you’re in an area of concern, support or intervention tests are being reserved for those areas.

“That means that every day nationally people start booking tests and then for areas that are not in the higher level of concern the facilities in those areas are withdrawn from the national network. That means if you did get on first thing in the morning the Bet 365 Stadium or Beaconside are likely to appear and then as the national test capacity is exceeded those facilities are switched off and that’s when you see problems with people being offered test centres a long way away – if at all.

“We have escalated that to Government, we have been told it will be two to three weeks before it will be fully resolved. Therefore we are going to have to look at how we bridge those two to three weeks with additional local arrangements to try and make sure people can tested locally.

“When it is working well it is quite a nice system. The way it is supposed to work is if you have symptoms you go through the national system to request a test, you tell the national system where you live and it will pull up the facilities that are closest to you, whether it is a regional testing centre, a mobile testing unit or a local testing site.

“Because of the national problems the mobile testing units will be available for a transient period of time to the national system and it will be turned off because it is not an area of concern. We’ve also been asked by national Government not to direct people directly to these facilities, only to allow them to be booked.

“We have gone back to Government and said that’s all very well but you can’t actually book them. We’re trying to seek greater clarity about whether they can modify their operating procedures to allow people effectively just to drop in without an appointment and that conversation is ongoing.”