Sturgeon denies ‘playing politics’ over Covid testing
Ni cola Sturgeon yesterday rejected accusations from Westminster that she is “playing politics” over the continued backlog of test results.
At her daily corona virus briefing yesterday, the First Minister said she did not understand the criticism reported by the BBC from a source in Westminster but said discussion son how to reduce the backlog are ongoing with the UK government.
Problems are centred on the UK government’ s Lighthouse Lab network, which includes a facility in Glasgow, and Ms Sturgeon said“too many” tests for the virus are not being processed quickly enough. However, neither the S cottish or UK governments have released figures showing the full extent of the problem despite multiple requests.
With testing of care home staff going through these labs and suggestions some workers are waiting between five and seven days for results, Ms Sturgeon revealed the NHS might take some of the strain.
Ms Sturgeon said: “The issue is just the constraints on the Lighthouse Laboratory slowing down the test results.
“We hope that will resolve itself but we will continue to monitor this.”
The First Minister said discussions with the UK government’s Health Secretary Matt
Hancock and head of testing Dido Harding were “constructive” and rejected the suggestion she was “playing politics” with the issue.
She revealed on Monday that the Scottish Government had “resisted” calls from Mr Hancock to restrict access to testing, with the UK government stating testing capacity had not been compromised in Scotland and it was “wrong to suggest otherwise”.
Ms Sturgeon added: “As for the comment about playing politics, I just genuinely don’t understand that. We have got aU k-wide system, we’ re working constructively together within that but if there are issues I think it is better to try to be up front about those issues and talk about what we’re doing to resolve them.
“That’s not playing politics, that’s just trying to make a system which is really, crucially important for our fight against the virus, is working as effectively as possible.
“It’s that spirit of trying to find a partnership approach to resolving them that these discussions are taking place.”
However Ms Sturgeon could not provide a figure for the number of tests affected by the backlog, saying it was a “moveable feast” and a “changing picture”.
It is unclear how many tests are delayed, with the Scottish Government unable to provide the figure and the UK’S department for health and social care refusing to release the information when asked twice.
Ms Sturgeon said: “I can’t give you that right now for today because we are still looking at it and it is a changing picture every day.
“Yesterday there were I think around 12,000 tests processed through the UK system for Scotland so that will have changed the backlog of yesterday.
“We need to now see how that is processed today and what that picture is. It is not that we are not giving you a figure, it is that it is a moveable feast.
“It is too high at the moment and we’re trying to get it down.”
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Hancock said “I think it is important that we expand the NHS labs, and that we work across the whole of the UK to get the testing capacity needed.
“In Scotland, when there was a surge in demand for tests last month, we diver ted more of the UK’S capacity to support people in Scotland, and we currently deliver more tests per head in Scotland than in the UK as a whole.
“It is absolutely necessary to work together, across party lines, between the Scottish devolved government and the UK government, to make sure that we get the support to the people of Scotland as to every other part of this country.”