REVOLT AT HOSPITAL

Fury as staff denied test even though it’s available

THE chief executive of a major London hospital claims NHS England is blocking medical staff from being tested for coronavirus, a leaked memo has revealed.

Doctors and nurses at King’s College Hospital have been told they cannot carry out the tests – even though they have the ability – until all the nation’s hospitals are ready to do the same.

A senior consultant warned last night that it was ‘absolutely beyond comprehension’ that hospitals in London, which are worst affected by the virus, are being stopped from testing staff.

The whistleblower claimed it had put doctors and nurses who may have been exposed to the virus into a ‘state of anxiety’ over whether they risked infecting patients.

The decision also leaves hospitals short of staff as they are forced to stay at home for up to 14 days if other members of their household have symptoms. Testing would allow those with negative results to return to work in hospitals.

According to minutes of a meeting of hospital bosses at King’s College Hospital on Wednesday evening, chief executive Professor Clive Kay warned that NHS England did not want testing of staff to begin until it was available across the country.

The internal memo obtained by the Mail states: ‘Clive made it very clear that at present we should not be testing staff for Covid-19.

‘The reason is that nationally there is not capacity to test all staff that will require testing.’

It said NHS England ‘does not want to introduce inequity in the system where some Trusts are testing staff and others not or not able’. A separate leaked email shows that doctors at the hospital were told this week they were testing too many patients.

A senior consultant at the hospital said last night the decision to delay testing doctors and nurses until it was available across the country put staff and patients at risk, adding: ‘This is muddled thinking. The capacity to substantially upscale testing is already in place. NHS England knows this.

Trust chief executives are under huge pressure not to test staff or public. This is completely against all infectious disease principles.’

The consultant said staff swab every patient who arrives for comparably minor MRSA bacterial infections, but must admit people without discovering whether they have coronavirus.

This means they do not know whether to segregate them or doctors and nurses need to use personal protective equipment when treating them. The medic added: ‘We should test every admission. Test, test, test, it is really clear.’

The doctor also warned that staff with mild symptoms were anxious because they could not check whether they had coronavirus, adding: ‘If I have a bit of a cough, but know my hospital is falling apart, do I self-isolate for 14 days?

‘Do I infect the hospital? Do I stay at home and let people die because I am not there? Not giving that opportunity to a doctor to know are they infectious is crazy. The capacity is there.’

Boris Johnson wants to increase the number of tests per day from 10,000 to 25,000 and to prioritise testing NHS staff. But the British Medical Association said members claimed this wasn’t happening.

A spokesman for King’s College Hospital said: ‘We are in the process of reviewing staff testing.’

Latest coronavirus video news, views and expert advice at mailplus.co.uk/coronavirus

‘Do I stay at home and let people die?’