Durham patient given test booking in Perth

Essential workers trying to book a Covid-19 test using an official website have been offered slots requiring a 400-mile round trip, an MP has said.

Labour MP Kevan Jones described the situation in County Durham as “chaotic” after a constituent was offered a test in Perth, Scotland, meaning a round trip of about seven hours.

Others said they were asked to go to Edinburgh.

Mr Jones said the official testing website also offered someone a test in Penrith in Cumbria, 63 miles from Durham, despite local test sites being set up with the help of the county council.

And problems at a local testing site led to the police being called, it has emerged. The Durham North MP said: “The national coronavirus testing website is shambolic, and along with Durham County Council, I am calling on the health secretary to take urgent action.”

He said it was an example of Westminster “micromanaging” what was happening in the regions, calling it “completely shambolic”.

Lucy Hovvels, chairman of the County Durham Health and Wellbeing Board, claimed sites’ operations had been “hampered by the poor performance of the national website” for booking appointments.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Over one million people have now been tested in the UK and the vast majority report no issues with the process.”