Doctor representatives have told the Health and Social Care Committee that the decision not to prioritise healthcare workers for COVID-19 testing is causing major workforce problems.
Addressing the committee last Thursday (26 Mar), BMA Chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said the approach was counter-intuitive and was reducing the healthcare workforce at a time when it is needed most.
Dr Nagpaul said, when the announcement was made, he immediately raised, on behalf of doctors, the impact this would have on the workforce. “Literally the day after, we saw large numbers of NHS staff not coming in to work so we had a situation where GP practices and hospitals were understaffed. The staff themselves, many of them felt able to work but they were following guidance.”
“If they were able to be tested they could come back to work,” he pointed out.
Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said emergency departments are similarly being affected. She said she currently has six members of staff absent because they had symptoms and another 10 were absent because they were self-isolating. She said rotas are becoming more challenging because of the decision.
“We need to get staff tested as soon as possible,” she said.
Responding, PHE Medical Director, said that there will be “up to 25,000 tests carried out each day, but these will be prioritised for hospital patients and outbreaks in the community. If there is spare capacity the next priority will be front-line staff but we understand that won’t be enough.”
Work is progressing to deliver 100,000 tests per day. While she could not give an exact date for when the extra capacity will be delivered, she expects that this will be on-stream by mid-April.
