Derbyshire doctor told to travel miles for Covid test

The doctor, who works at Royal Derby Hospital and wishes to remain anonymous, was advised that the drive-through test site in Royton was the ‘nearest’ drive-through unit with an available slot.

Oldham has been in national headlines for weeks due to surging levels of Covid cases making it one of the nation’s hotspots with a raft of preventative measures reintroduced.

The Derby medic was told there were not any walk-through test sites available and they were not provided with the option of a home-testing kit.

There are public testing sites available in Derbyshire but the doctor was not directed to any of these.

Meanwhile, the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, the doctor’s employer, said its in-house Covid testing capacity is focused on in-patient testing.

This comes after NHS test and trace leadership apologised for delays, with UK labs struggling to keep up with demand – leading to some being asked to travel hundreds of miles.

The lab processing capacity was described as the ‘pinch-point’ causing the issue around people being asked to travel increasing distances.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesman said: “NHS test and trace is working, our capacity is the highest it has ever been and our laboratories are processing more than a million tests a week.

“We are seeing a significant demand for tests but if you have symptoms we urge you to get tested.

"New booking slots and home testing kits are made available daily and you can help protect yourself if you wash your hands, cover your face and make space.

“We are targeting testing capacity at the areas that need it most, including those where there is an outbreak, as well as prioritising at-risk groups and we recently announced new laboratory facilities and new technology to process results even faster.”

The DHSC was asked if tests could be taken locally and sent to labs which do have capacity instead of people being asked to drive across the country, but it had not responded at the time of this article’s publication.

The spokesman said the UK was ‘aiming to increase test capacity to 500,000 a day by the end of October’.

New labs in Newport and Charnwood are being brought in to help increase capacity in the next few months.

Meanwhile, improvements are being made to the system of allocating regional testing slots to ensure the distance limit does not go beyond 75 miles – though this would not have assisted the Derbyshire doctor’s issue, with Oldham 60 miles away.

The government says the number of testing sites will be increased to 500 by the end of October.

There has reportedly been an increase of more than 60 per cent in demand for tests since June from 100,000 a day to 170,000 a day.

Baroness Dido Harding, head of NHS test and trace in England, said she was ‘very sorry’ for the situation.

However, she also insisted the ‘vast majority’ of people could still get appointments nearby.

Meanwhile, Sarah-Jane Marsh, who works as a deputy to Ms Harding, said: “Can I please offer my heartfelt apologies to anyone who cannot get a Covid test at present.

“All of our testing sites have capacity, which is why they don’t look overcrowded, it’s our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch-point.

"We are doing all we can to expand quickly.”

Matt Hancock MP, the health secretary, said increasing numbers of people in England were seeking tests when they didn’t have any Covid-19 symptoms.

He said this ‘inappropriate’ use of the system was making it harder for people who needed tests to get one.