A WEEKEND of exceptionally high demand has led the UK’s coronavirus test-booking system to have “issues”, such as telling people in Inverclyde they’ll need to cross the Irish sea to get tested.
Other Scots trying to get a test have reported being sent south of the Border into England, or simply being shown a screen stating: “There is a problem”.
When The National tried to book a test from an address in Inverclyde, we were directed to a Northern Irish centre almost 110 miles away.
Reacting to the issues, Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny said the situation was "utterly unacceptable" and called for additional testing sites to be brought in.
He said: “It beggars belief that the UK Government’s test system was asking our community to travel to Northern Ireland to receive a test.
“Even discounting that utterly unacceptable situation, it’s also not good enough to expect people to travel to sites in Lochgilphead and Edinburgh.”
McEleny said his casework had highlighted the “clear upsurge in demand for testing”, which he put down to parents being “rightly cautious” and booking a test if their child exhibits symptoms.
He went on: “We must have testing in our community and it is clear that we need to have a system in place that district nurses are deployed to test young children as opposed to asking parents to travel great lengths to then have to administer the test themselves.
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“Instead of test capacity being blocked to people in Inverclyde by people travelling to the area to get tested from across the Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area, an additional test site should be established to meet this demand.”
At today’s coronavirus briefing the First Minister said she was “aware” of the issues, adding that the Government was looking at how they could be “properly and appropriately managed”.
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said it would be "disastrous" for people displaying Covid symptoms to be traveling futher than necessary.
He said: “This is an extremely concerning development. We know how important it is to test quickly and contain the spread of this virus.
“People need to have trust in the system and be provided with accurate information about the nearest test centre.
“It would be disastrous if people displaying symptoms travel longer distances than they should.
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“The Health Secretary must get to the root of this problem urgently. We can't afford for the system to fall down whenever demand increases.”
The Scottish Tories' health spokesperson, Donald Cameron, also expressed concern about the issues, saying: “It’s not right that some people are being sent on 100-mile round-trips and across the border for a Covid test.
“We’ve been hearing from constituents that testing sites are struggling to cope with demand, and test results that should be delivered in 24 hours are taking several days.
“Young people and teachers have already had their lives disrupted considerably. It’s vital that they can get back to work and school as safely and as soon as possible.
“I urge the Scottish Government to find out what’s gone wrong here and work quickly to maintain public confidence in the testing system.”
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