TESTING TIMES
Chaos at NHS drive-thru coronavirus test centre with huge queues and workers turned away
CRUCIAL testing of NHS workers descended into chaos yesterday with staff turned away because they did not have appointments.
Some desperate hospitals tried to brew chemicals to create their own coronavirus tests while others begged vets for supplies.
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The fiasco unfolded as it emerged only 2,000 frontline staff have been formally screened — and there were calls for a Dunkirk-style mobilisation of Britain’s labs.
Long queues of cars built up at a testing centre set up at Ikea in Wembley, while another at Chessington World of Adventures was all but deserted.
Yet, at both, key workers were told they could not be tested without emails arranging a time and date.
Experts believe up to 200,000 NHS staff currently off work could return if they were tested soon.
At the Ikea in North West London, health care assistant Joanna Pasieka, 39, told The Sun: “I am working on a Covid ward.
“I rang 111 and they told me to come here, but they won’t test me here without an email. I just don’t know who I have to contact to get an appointment.
“Its quite distressing. My son has been showing symptoms but I can’t get him tested either.”
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Nicky Mahoney, 54 — a fertility nurse specialist redeployed to the frontline — said: “I assumed you could just pop in.”
But Amanda Barnes, a nurse from Hammersmith, was able to get tested after her HR manager arranged it.
A swab is taken from the nose or throat, with results taking at least 24 hours to come through.
Nicky said: “It was quite unpleasant but necessary. If we’re caring for Covid patients, we need to make sure that we aren’t spreading the virus.”
A small number of non-NHS workers were also in the queue, with one man saying: “I’ve had a cough for a few days, I’m worried for my health and there’s no other way to get a test.”
Ikea chiefs said they were “enormously proud” to offer the site and hoped other locations could be used too.
Meanwhile, the Chessington facility in the South West of the capital was virtually empty.
But one NHS emergency engineer said: “I fix vital equipment in the hospital. I’ve driven up from Brighton but they won’t give me a test without an appointment.”
Coronavirus testing: What is the difference between antigen and antibody tests?
Coronavirus tests are key to getting a clearer idea of the scale of the outbreak in the UK and getting a handle on it.
In recent days, there's been a lot of talk about the two different types of tests that the government are ramping up.
The government refers to them as the 'have you got it' antigen test or the 'have you had it' antibody test.
Here we explain the difference between the two...
What is an antigen test?
Antigens are found on the surface of invading pathogens, including coronavirus.
Testing for antigens can determine whether someone is currently carrying the virus and are actively infectious.
The NHS is currently using antigen tests in hospitals to determine if someone is currently infected with Covid-19.
Samples are taken using a swab - which resemble a large cotton bud - from deep inside the nose and throat before being sent off to a lab for testing.
Most labs use a method called the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which takes several hours to get a result.
It can take days for labs to run the tests and tell people their result.
Several companies are working on ways to fast track this type of testing.
What is an antibody test?
When a person gets infected with antigen, the body starts making specially designed proteins called antibodies in response - as a way to fight the infection.
After they recover, those antibodies float in the blood for months, maybe even years.
That's the body's way of defending itself in case it becomes infected with the virus again.
So an antibody test specifically looks for antibodies which will be able to tell whether you've already been exposed to Covid-19.
Anyone who has already had the illness is presumed to be immune to getting it again - at least, in the intermediate term.
This would allow them to go back to work safe in the knowledge that they are unlikely to become infected again or pass the virus on.
The check that has been developed for Covid-19 is a finger-prick blood test, with the samples sent to laboratories and results available within a few days.
Dr Hilary Jones, a GP and resident doctor on Good Morning Britain, explained that it works "almost like a pregnancy test, except you need a drop of blood".
These tests are being developed by several different firms and Public Health England (PHE) is also working on its own test.
They still need to be validated to ensure they give accurate results.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS providers, said initial testing over the weekend showed only around 15 per cent of those self-isolating had coronavirus.
He added: “This effectively means that the other 85 per cent are potentially available to come back to work.”
Ministers said at the weekend that 10,000 tests were now being carried out each day, yet Monday’s figure was just 8,630.
Total testing capacity is 12,750 and it will be weeks before the UK hits the 25,000 mark — whereas Germany is already carrying out 70,000 daily.
The figures come despite the Government admitting a mass roll-out of testing is the best and fastest way to end lockdown measures crippling the economy.
MPs and experts last night called on Boris Johnson to step in.
Industry leaders say Britain has plenty of the chemicals and raw materials needed but lacked the manufacturing capacity.
Public Health England has been accused of causing further delay by authorising fewer than 60 of the UK’s 600 medically-accredited laboratories to test the kits.
Universities have dozens more. A new super-lab will be set up in Milton Keynes but is still days away from being ready.
The Adam Smith Institute think tank urged the Government to mobilise all of the labs in a similar fashion to the 850 private boats that were sent to evacuate Dunkirk in World War Two.
Spokesman Matt Kilcoyne said: “Every lab — big, small, private, or public — can play their part in delivering reliable tests that can be rolled out across the country at speed and at scale.”
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It also emerged British firm Novacyt has sold £17.8million of coronavirus tests to 80 countries but has been able to sell only £1million-worth to the UK.
Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told The Sun: “Britain has cracked the ventilator problem — now we need to use our national ingenuity to overcome the problems with testing.
“Every laboratory, every university, every pharmaceutical company in the country should be signed up to a great endeavour.”
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