Care staff told to go to drive-through centre for tests – when many don’t have cars
News out this morning has revealed yet further how far behind the country is when it comes to testing. In Southwark just six staff across the entire borough per day can be tested with some in the profession being told to drive to drive-through centres – even though many staff do not drive.
Testing careworkers for COVID19 – this is the current reality – doesn’t scratch the surface. Not sure how many careworkers own cars either, especially in cities. Need more labs testing & a more practical way of administering. @ukhca pic.twitter.com/egk49isnHC
— Jane Townson (@drjanetownson) April 16, 2020
This follows advice to NHS staff in recent weeks after a drive-through centre opened in Greenwich.
Many care staff are on low wages and couldn’t afford a car – yet even among the wider population car ownership in London is the lowest in the country.
In other news the wider numbers of people being tested have just been released by the Department for Health. There has been no real increase over the past week with numbers below target. Individuals tested over the past week have fluctuated between 13,000 and 14,000 except for a dip to 8,000 on Sunday.
It was exactly two weeks ago that you started a thread about the Greenwich test centre. So in two weeks we have advanced to the point where SIX lucky care careworkers from Southwark will be tested a day — if they can get there by car.
That would have been a disgraceful figure then. But two weeks later??
Looking at the original aerial photo there only appear to be 4 testing stations. Presumably the centre is meant to cover south and south east London so the number of care workers must run into the thousands, let alone key workers like the police etc. Unfortunately the whole thing is a shambles and certainly government ministers should be held to account.