‘Covid testing crisis’ in West Sussex

A West Sussex mum-of-three has spoken about her frustration at not being able to book a Covid test for her nine-year-old son.
Alison Bennett has spoken out about the struggles of trying to book a Covid testAlison Bennett has spoken out about the struggles of trying to book a Covid test
Alison Bennett has spoken out about the struggles of trying to book a Covid test

Alison Bennett is leader of the Lib Dem group at Mid Sussex District Council.

After returning to school last Monday, one of her children woke up with a cough on Tuesday morning.

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The decision was made to keep the entire family at home until he could be tested for Covid-19.

As has been widely reported nationally there is a shortage of testing capacity at laboratories.

When Alison tried to book a test for her son on the government website, either by post or drive through, there was no way to reserve one.

The site at Haywards Heath said it had 36 available appointments, but when they checked each day over the next week, no appointments were available.

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The two other sites suggested were in Essex and Oldham. But they did not have appointments either.

She added: “We called the helpline, and after a number of attempts where the line went dead, or we were put in a queue and then the line went dead, we did speak to a call handler. She advised that there was nothing she could do and to keep trying online.”

A West Sussex County Council report has outlined how as the South East region has the lowest incidence of the virus it is a ‘low priority for pillar 2 testing’.

Council officers have warned that without testing of pillar 2 at full capacity they are unable to build up an accurate picture of the number of cases and may not be able to detect any concerning increase in cases at locality level.

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They have raised the issue with government but have been told this will possibly take some time to resolve (four to six weeks).

While there is a ‘relatively low incidence of COVID-19 in West Sussex and no outbreaks’ they are continuing to monitor the situation carefully.

Alison said the current situation meant there was no incentive for parents who know their children are displaying symptoms to act responsibly and keep them at home and seek to get a test done quickly.

Whilst families are waiting for a test, not only are these children missing out on their education, but their classmates are still together in their bubble, and if Covid is circulating then it could be spreading until the outcome of the delayed results are known.

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There would also be parallel scenarios for adults in the workplace waiting to get tested.

She has written to her MP Andrew Griffith asking him to put pressure on the government to ‘sort out the Covid testing crisis in West Sussex’.

Earlier this week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock blamed the problems on too many people without symptoms seeking tasts.

But Sarah-Jane Marsh, director of testing for NHS Test and Trace, said: “Can I please offer my heartfelt apologies to anyone who cannot get a COVID test at present. All of our testing sites have capacity, which is why they don’t look overcrowded, its our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch-point. We are doing all we can to expand quickly.”

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled the government’s ‘operation moonshot’ for mass testing.

Alison called Mr Hancock’s comments ‘totally outrageous’, adding: “I thought that was an extraordinary thing to say.”

She added: “We have known all summer that come September there was likely to be an increase in the number cases. We also knew and planned for the reopening of the schools. Frankly I am cross that we do not have adequate capacity to cope with a rise in demand that should have been anticipated.”

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