Coronavirus: Government admits early tests for NHS staff ‘weren’t effective enough’

Affected health workers informed of defective testing, says care minister Helen Whately

The government has offered to retest NHS staff for coronavirus after revealing early testing was flawed and may have returned inaccurate results, potentially endangering both their lives and those they will have come into contact with in hospitals and care homes.

Care minister Helen Whately made the admission on Wednesday morning, adding that these health workers have been informed of the defective testing.

“My understanding from some of the clinical advisors is that some of the early tests were evaluated and the evaluation was that they weren’t effective enough,” she told Sky News.

“This is a normal process when you are using a test for an illness. As we know this is a new illness and we’re learning all the time.

“Those who were tested with the test that we think is not up to scratch have been written to, to let them know and they will be offered another test.”

The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday that Public Health England (PHE) had earlier this month questioned the reliability of the tests in a private memo, warning of “discordant results” and “degraded” performance.

It also said PHE testing centres have now been told to stop using existing tests by Thursday and to instead use tests supplied by commercial firms.

To date, almost 100,000 health workers have been tested for coronavirus, raising the prospect that some of these individuals may have been allowed to return to hospitals and care homes while carrying the disease.

Ms Whately said the government has “to make sure we look at the reliability of tests.”

“And this has been, also, the whole debate around the testing of people who don’t have symptoms, for instance,” she added.

“One reason why the testing is focused on people who do have symptoms is because we know the testing is most accurate when you have symptoms.

“This is really, really important – not just to test but to make sure we are testing people effectively.

“You need to make sure that it’s giving you an accurate result on which decisions can then be made.”

On the issue of the UK's limited testing capacity, the care minister admitted it was “really troubling” and hinted at mistakes in the nationwide strategy.

After weeks of the government defending its record – despite fewer than 20,000 daily tests, way short of the pledge of 100,000 next week – Ms Whately acknowledged it had failed to deliver as hoped.

She said that care workers were unable to reach the drive-through centres set up, which meant mobile tests were now being offered, with some home testing available soon.

“It clearly is really troubling where our strategy is to increase capacity and get as much testing happening as possible,” Ms Whately said.

She also dismissed reports that the government chose not to join a European Union scheme focused on the acquirement of coronavirus-related medical equipment.

Sir Simon McDonald, a senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, told a Commons committee on Tuesday that ministers had taken a “political decision” not to join a programme to procure ventilators, only to later issue a retraction.

Ms Whately said the UK had since joined other EU procurement programmes.

“There do seem some misunderstandings about the EU scheme. I am assured there was no political decision about the involvement in it,” she said.

“The reason we weren’t involved in the initial scheme was to do with a communications error. We are now participating in one EU scheme and ready to participate in future schemes.

“The important thing is making sure that we are getting the PPE that we need.”