111 callers ‘told they don’t need virus test’

THE NHS is restricting coronavirus testing and even turning away patients who have suspicious symptoms, a senior GP has warned.

Dr Ali Joy said members of the public who suspect they have the potentially deadly disease were calling the NHS 111 helpline to try to arrange a test, only to be told they did not need one.

The GP, who practises in Chelsea, west London, said she was ‘concerned’ the ‘rigorous checklist’ being used by the 111 call centre staff to decide who gets tested may be overly restrictive.

She said she had tried to arrange a test for an 18-year- old with cold-like symptoms who had just returned from northern Italy – the worst-affected country in Europe – and was told ‘categorically’ that he would not need one.

The NHS announced last week that it would be rolling out home testing for coronavirus in a bid to stop people going to crowded A&E units and infecting others around them. Individuals with suspicious symptoms are told to call 111 and an adviser will decide if they need a test. If it is deemed necessary, they will arrange for a nurse or paramedic to visit their home.

But Dr Joy, pictured right, said in Chelsea there were just three nurses carrying out the tests for the whole borough and they were allowed to do a maximum of 36 a day.

She said: ‘Everybody in the medical community knows that NHS 111 doesn’t work for coronavirus testing – it’s just simply not working.

‘They have this rigorous checklist where they have the dangerous countries and the symptoms. If you don’t fit absolutely into that box, they don’t even take your name. It’s almost impossible to get testing.’

Referring to her experience of trying to arrange a test for the 18-yearold through NHS 111, she said: ‘This is a real issue. His mother had tried, her GP had tried, I tried, the school had tried. So four people had tried and he was refused a test. He had been through north Italy and he had symptoms and he was refused a test. NHS 111 don’t give you a reason, they just say the symptoms aren’t sufficient enough. I was told categorically he doesn’t need testing.’

She said another patient with a bad fever and a cough who had just flown back from Johannesburg in South Africa had also been refused a test. Although South Africa has not yet reported any cases, it has a large Chinese population and experts believe that some patients may have the disease undetected.

Dr Joy also warned that some hospitals did not yet have coronavirus isolation pods, which are meant to enable patients to be tested away from crowded A&E units, including the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in central London. And she also believes that when someone tests positive for the disease, the NHS is not properly tracing all those who may have come into contact with the patient and potentially been infected. The NHS said it had ploughed £ 1.7million into the 111 service to offer more coronavirus advice over the phone. A spokesman added: ‘Guidance on which patients are eligible for home testing is set by experts at Public Health England, and almost 14,000 people have been tested for coronavirus in the UK so far.’