A senior Conservative has urged Matt Hancock to get a “grip” of testing capacity issues in England and said it was wrong to blame asymptomatic people attempting to get tests.
Greg Clark, a former cabinet minister, said the health secretary must accept there is a “problem” with the current system if individuals are being asked to travel vast distances for Covid-19 tests.
His remarks came as Mr Hancock once again urged people not displaying coronavirus symptoms not to apply for tests, suggesting they are responsible for the service struggling to meet demand.
Earlier this week, however, a director of NHS Test and Trace, Sarah-Jane Marsh, issued an apology to people who have been asked to travel hundreds of miles, blaming a “critical pinch-point” in laboratory processing for problems meeting.
Addressing the issue in the Commons, Mr Clark, who also chairs parliament’s Science and Technology Committee, said: “This is in a mild September before the autumn and winter when people have coughs and colds that may look like symptoms of Covid.
“And it is no good blaming people who are asymptomatic – I’d be interested to see if the Secretary of State could say what percentage of people are turning up for testing that don’t have symptoms.
“I think this needs his personal grip. He referred to the need for him to increase testing capacity from 1,000 a day to 100,000 a day.”
He went on: “This is an urgent matter, it needs a grip before the autumn bites, the autumn-winter bites. Will he commit by the end of the month to make sure anyone who has symptoms of Covid can get a test at a reasonable place, convenient to their home?”
In his response, Mr Hancock said ensuring everyone with symptoms can get a test close to their home is “of course my goal”, adding: “It is my goal for that to happen immediately”.
“The challenge is both to increase the capacity, a subject that both [Mr Clark] and I have discussed at length and I know he’s a strong supporter of, it is also a matter of making sure that that capacity is used by the right people.
“And this is why I am clear about the eligibility for testing and it is really important that people hear that message that if you have symptoms, of course you should get a test, we urge you to get a test because we need to find out if that is Covid, for your sake and for everybody’s.
Tory MP says government must ‘get a grip’ of testing and should not blame public
“But at the same time, it is important that people who are not eligible do not come forward for those tests because otherwise you’re taking a test away from somebody who has symptoms.”
The health secretary also said the government was considering “eligibility” tests for those who come forward for Covid-19 tests, telling MPs: “There’s record testing capacity and most people get tested close to home, however, we have got this challenge that some people without symptoms who are not eligible for a test have been coming forward.
“Thus far I have been reluctant to put a barrier and a strong eligibility check on the front of the testing system because I want people with symptoms to be able to get tests as fast and as easily as possible.
“However, with this very sharp rise we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks of people coming forward for tests when they’re not eligible, that is something we’re having to look at.”
