Government warned: Protect covid tests for staff or risk deeper crisis

The rise of cases of the omicron variant in recent days has already increased demand for PCR tests in England, and this is forecast to accelerate dramatically in coming days.

There are already signs it is getting harder to book tests and taking longer for results to come through.

Currently, NHS staff who are vaccinated and come into close contact with a covid-positive person must arrange a PCR test either through the national testing programme or their local trust. They cannot return to work until they get a negative result.

Curtailed turnaround times could therefore leave ostensibly well staff who had been in close contact waiting more than a day for a negative PCR result before they can return to work.

This would exacerbate expected staff shortages through illness, which are threatening to leave gaps in rotas and insufficient staff to provide clinical services.

Several directors and managers in NHS trusts said they were concerned about the immediate prospect of turnaround times drawing out, and that there was already pressure on labs.

David Wells, CEO of the Institute of Biomedical Science and covid testing director at NHS England until earlier this year, told HSJ: “The available capacity in the country needs to be used wisely to not only track and trace the spread of the omicron variant, but should be used to ensure that NHS staff are able to return to work safely and promptly if they are a close contact to ensure the burden upon the NHS is minimised as far as possible.”

The most recent testing data from the UK Health Security Agency, for the week up to 8 December, shows nearly 40 per cent of in-person tests took longer than 24 hours to get results back.

Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, told HSJ: “If we start to see delays in results being confirmed because of high volumes of PCR tests being carried out, it may be necessary to look at priority status for some groups, including health and care staff, if that meant they return to their role more quickly, delivering patient care.”

An alternative to hiving off test capacity nationally for NHS staff would be for their home trusts to provide tests instead. However, HSJ understands pressure is already mounting on some hospital pathology labs with the prospect of staff leave having to be cancelled.

This pressure looks set to continue to grow if the omicron variant leads to a surge of patients arriving in hospital with covid, as government advisers fear.

HSJ has contacted the UKHSA for comment.