Health Secretary Matt pledged to put in "immediate" solutions to make sure people did not have to travel more than 75 miles, effective from last Friday. Since then, postcodes entered into the government's booking system return a message suggesting there are no testing centres or home kits available - even if you are an essential worker with symptoms.

Melissa, a GP in the north-west of England, applied for a test for her seven-year-old son on Tuesday after he developed a new continuous cough and changes to his sense of taste. After being offered a test in Sunderland, about 130 miles away, she applied via her local NHS's staff portal - designed to prioritise health staff. But this system directed her first to Telford, almost 100 miles away, and then to London, a distance of more than 200 miles. No home kits were available.

And Jamie in Chesterfield spent seven hours trying to contact someone using the 119 number after no slots were appearing on the online booking system. His school-age child had developed a new cough. "It's the right thing to do according to the guidelines," he said. Eventually he managed to get a test 50 miles away.

This comes as a number of different data sources show cases are rising and the epidemic is growing for the first time since before lockdown.

Falling over?! IMO it has never been anywhere close to being upright

Hospital medics and GPs have described how delays of up to four days to get a test and five days to receive the result forces them to isolate and means they cannot work normally in the NHS.

A dossier of cases being collated by the Doctors’ Association UK discloses how a male GP in Margate in Kent who was displaying symptoms was told to travel 266 miles to Leeds in West Yorkshire to have a test.

In another case a hospital doctor in Basildon, Essex, had to undertake a 500-mile round trip to Glenfield hospital in Leicester. When the occupational health department at his NHS trust could not provide a test they advised him to use the test and trace website instead.

“I had to try for 36 hours to get a slot and then that involved a 250-mile drive, which my partner had to take a day off work to do.

“I then had to isolate while waiting for a result, which took five days, during which my colleagues had to cover me. Utter shambles,” he said.

A GP in Brighton and her partner, who is a doctor in a hospital, both had to isolate for eight days due to her inability to get a test locally for four days, despite checking availability several times a day.

“Once I finally went to get tested, it took a further four days to get the result. My whole family were isolating for this period; that’s a GP and hospital doctor who are unable to see patients whilst waiting for testing and results,” she said.

Family doctors are disadvantaged in the search for tests because, unlike hospitals, GP surgeries do not have occupational departments, which could organise a test for them.

Dr Rinesh Parmar, the chair of the DAUK, said: “The current arrangements for Covid-19 testing are an utter shambles. We have key workers, such as GPs and hospital doctors, who are unable to access testing, having to self-isolate and ultimately not see patients.

“With an already stretched NHS workforce and 8,274 doctor vacancies in England alone prior to the pandemic, we can ill afford to have doctors self-isolating due to a lack of available testing.”

Tests are available for those that need it ... those with symptoms.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said up to 80% of people who test positive for coronavirus in the UK don't have symptoms.

According to data released by the Office For National (ONS) statistics last week, 71% of people who tested positive for coronavirus had not displayed symptoms.

But speaking at the daily government briefing, Mr Hancock suggested the number of asymptomatic cases could be higher.

'Utter shambles': GPs and medics decry NHS test-and-trace system

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...d-trace-system


It makes me wonder how many less responsible citizens give up on searching for a test and don't bother self-isolating .....

I am more worried about those who do not even seek a test. I have the feeling that there are countless individuals who continue to work and avoid a test. Because if you have a job which means you lose income if off sick or where your job is at risk if off sick, some will avoid being off sick. I think that's why it's spreading.

Also those who arrive from countries which require self isolation for 14 days are not being closely monitored. There's currently random contact checks using a sample. A friend's daughter who is a teen wasn't even registered when she left Spain.

Nicola Sturgeon has voiced "very serious concerns" about an apparent backlog of coronavirus test results. The Scottish first minister said she was seeking "urgent discussions" with UK ministers over delays to results.

The "vast bulk" of Scotland's coronavirus testing is carried out as part of a UK-wide network of test centres and mobile testing units, with the results processed in Lighthouse* labs such as the one in Glasgow.

Ms Sturgeon said: "We now have a very serious concern that the backlog of test results being faced by the UK lab network is starting to impact on the timeous reporting of Scottish results. We have reason to be concerned that the figures that have been reported today are not complete, because some of the turnaround of the tests done in Scotland over yesterday is longer. "