Nurses call for free Covid tests for health staff and carers to be protected after minister warns on costs
Nurses urged the government not to end routine testing of healthcare staff for Covid- 19 yesterday after the health secretary suggested it is unsustainable despite case numbers and hospitalisations continuing to rise.
Hum za Yousaf said the programme of twice- weekly testing costs £ 300 million a year and one g o v e r nme n t adviser told The Post difficult choices will have to be made. Official statistics found one in 18 people in Scotland had the virus last week, the highest infection rate in the UK.
Eileen Mckenna, associate director, Royal College of Nursing Scotland, said: “As the virus spreads in our communities, it remains vital that staff have access to tests to protect themselves, their families and the people they are caring for. Making tests available for nursing staff must continue to be a priority as well as ensuring there is the lab capacity for analysing tests.”
Professor of public health Linda Bauld, who advises the Scottish Government on Covid, said: “We do have high infection levels at the moment so it seems reasonable to continue with testing of healthcare workers, for now. “If we had more resources,
course I would say continue indefinitely with asymptomatic testing, but we don’t.
“I’d be surprised if they withdrew it from all social care workers in the medium term because there may still be care homes, for example, where there are groups that are significantly more vulnerable.”
In an interview with The Times, Yousaf said finding money to fund free tests for the general population is virtually impossible and the current programme of testing health workers and carers is unsustainable at £300m.
This stance appears to c o n t ra d i ct the Scottish Government’s testing transition plan published in March which said routine asymptomatic testing of the health and social care workforce will play an ongoing role, given the clinical risk in those settings.
One A& E consultant at a Scottish hospital said Yousaf’s comments have come as a surprise, adding: “Ending the programme of testing would be a concern, particularly given the rise in numbers of cases and hospitalisations we’re seeing at the moment.”
Labour’s Covid spokesperson Jackie Baillie MSP said: “This is not the time to roll b a ck te s t i n g . We understand the financial pressure the government is under, but this is a potentially dangerous move that is contrary to the government’s stated approach.”
Lib Dem leader Alex ColeHamilton added: “Both staff and patients will be filled with dread at the prospect of an end to testing of healthcare workers.”
Case numbers are up 32% in a week, UK- wide, with 3.2m cases recorded and the number of infections is rising fastest in Scotland, with one in 18 people infected last week – about 5% of the population.
The growing number of people infected has pushed up the number of cases in hospital with the virus by 34% in a week, from 967 to 1,298 patients, with 16 requiring intensive care. And pressure on the NHS is exacerbated by the number of
nurses and doctors who are absent after testing positive.
Professor Jason Leitch, the national clinical director, told MSPS on Holyrood’s Covid-19 recovery committee that the rise was not unexpected and it had left public health officials concerned, but not panicking. He said the public should consider making use of preventative measures, including wearing face coverings.
T he Br i t i s h Me d i c a l Association said: “While the pandemic is in a different phase, rising case numbers clearly show that we are far from at an end to the threat posed by Covid and the pressure it can and will put on our healthcare system. Doctors and all healthcare workers continue to be on the frontline of caring for those with Covid, and ensuring testing is available to them is an important way to ensure we minimise the spread and impact of the virus.”
The Scottish Government said: “We are not proposing to pause asymptomatic testing at this point in time, and will keep the situation under careful and regular review.”