Three in 10 negative tests may be incorrect
Union claims NHS workers may still be infected while treating patients, fuelling fears of a second wave
‘This is a worryingly high rate that raises the prospect of many infected individuals returning to healthcare’
THREE in 10 negative coronavirus tests may be wrong and fuelling the spread of the disease in hospitals, a doctors’ union has warned.
The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association said it fears 20 to 30 per cent of tests were giving NHS staff false negative results and sending them back to treating vulnerable patients while unwittingly still infectious.
The union called on the Government to publish the false negative rates for all its antigen tests, which detect whether the disease is present rather than if a subject has previously had it, and criticised ministers for their “wall of silence” over the issue.
The HCSA also said that rules should be changed so that doctors and nurses needed two negative tests to return to work, and to prevent hospitals becoming “hotspots” of infection that could fuel a second wave of infections.
In a letter to Duncan Selbie, the chief executive of Public Health England, seen by The Daily Telegraph, Dr Paul Donaldson, general secretary of the HCSA, expressed his “deep concern and frustration” at the “systematic lack of information” over the reliability of its polymerase chain reaction tests.
He said: “A wall of silence seems to have been erected around the issue, with only the occasional claim or hint emerging regarding the testing regime.
“Separately, statements by PHE officials and others place the incidence of false negatives somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent. If confirmed, this is a worryingly high rate that raises the prospect of many infected individuals, possibly without symptoms, being passed fit to return to healthcare settings where they will transmit Sarscov-2 to colleagues and patients.”
The union said it had made a number of attempts with PHE, including writing to Mr Selbie directly in April, to clarify the false positive rates of all tests. When pressed in Parliament on the false negative rates earlier this month, Nadine Dorries, the health minister for patient safety, said the Government was currently using eight different tests that were “clinically validated and have high levels of performance”.
Following the HCSA’S letter, Dr Nick Phin, PHE’S incident director, said: “The testing system is built on strong foundations using latest scientific evidence and advice. The different tests in use have been assessed as performing to manufacturers’ specifications.”
However, Dr Claudia Paoloni, HCSA’S president, said NHS staff had experienced problems with antigen tests, such as swabs being too long to fit into the containers they are sent to the laboratory in. This meant people had to snap them to fit them into the cases, which could void the test.
Dr Paoloni, a consultant anaesthetist at University Hospital Bristol, said the union was concerned about doctors and nurses being sent back to work while unknowingly infectious at a time when the Government was encouraging vulnerable non-coronavirus patients to return to hospitals for their treatments.
“It could create a hotspot area within the hospitals where we are causing a spread of the infection,” she said.
“Therefore, this is a higher risk, if we don’t get this right, that a second wave could occur and with higher numbers and be more significant. Also, people will retract again as they will be too fearful to come in if they see that infections are going up in hospitals.”