Sturgeon seeks talks on testing backlog
Holy rood and Westminster are embroiled in a fresh row over coronavirus after it emerged Jeane Freeman “resisted” calls from Matt Hancock to restrict access to testing.
Nicola Sturgeon revealed yesterday that Ms Freeman rejected a request from the
UK government’ s health secretary to limit access to mobile testing units and regional test centres in order to reduce a backlog of results.
The First Minister said the UK government processes the majority of Covid-19 tests in Scotland but a“demand issue” has been causing delays for patients waiting to receive their results.
With the rate of infection “R number” now higher in Scotland than the UK as a whole, Ms Sturgeon demanded Mr Hancock share the “full scale and nature of issues they are facing”.
Her comments came after she revealed just 70 people tested positive for Covid-19, down from 244 on Sunday, a number the Scottish Government does not believe repre - sents the complete data for all tests undertaken over the 24-hour period.
Ms Sturgeon said the figures available showed 22,749 people tested positive in Scotland, up from 22,679 the day before. This is 2.7 per cent of newly-tested individuals, down from 3.2 per cent on Sunday.
No deaths of confirmed Covid-19 patients were announced yesterday there was a rise of five to 264 in the number of people in hospital with confirmed coronavirus, while seven people are in intensive care.
On Sunday, Mr Hancock’ s department said “our capacit y is the highest it has ever been ”, but added :“We are seeing a significant demand for tests, including from people who do not have symp - toms and are not other wise eligible.
“New booking slots and home testing kits are made available daily for those who need them and we are targeting testing capacity at the areas that need it most, including those where there is an outbreak, and prioritising at-risk groups.”
At her daily corona virus briefing yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said: “We now have a very serious concern that the backlog of test results being faced by the UK lab network, which the Glasgow Lighthouse lab is part of, is starting to impact on the timeous reporting of Scottish results.
“We’ve been raising these concerns with the UK government in recent days and indeed over the weekend the health secretary managed to resist a move to limit access to testing slots at mobile testing units and regional testing centres.
“However this apparent delay in turnaround is causing us concern and therefore we’ ll be seeking to escalate these discussions with the UK government.”
The First Minister said the system has been working well and “robustly” through the pandemic despite reports of people being asked to travel large distances for tests.
When asked about the discussions with Mr Hancock, Ms Freeman said the key was for Scotland to“fully understand” the issues faced by the UK network. Ms Freeman said she had“constructive conversations” with Mr Hancock and her Welsh counterpart Vaughan Gething about the backlog, which she said was being caused by rising demand and “an issue with the speed and capacity of processing the tests”.
She added: “I was pleased that we managed not to have the restrictions on access to testing slots that were originally being proposed, but this is work that we need to continue because we need to try as best we can to work cooperatively and to resolve this situation.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Testing capacity has been protected in Scotland and Wales. It is wrong to suggest otherwise.
“We have been working with the Scottish government through the weekend to ensure they have the support they need. New booking slots for tests are made available daily for those who need them.
“We continue to work closely with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure local areas can access the testing they need, including those where there is an outbreak.”