DAUK in BMJ: Covid-19: Delays in getting tests are keeping doctors from work, health leaders war

A survey of 750 doctors by lobby group Doctors Association UK (DAUK) revealed “hundreds” of doctors could not access tests. Three quarters who needed tests were not able to get them, which DAUK president Samantha Batt-Rawden called a “disgrace.”

It cited examples of a Gloucester GP who had to self-isolate for 6 days before a slot was available nearly 200 miles away in Norwich. Another doctor spoke of the only option being “an appointment in 90 minutes. It is a 419 mile journey to get there and takes seven hours.”

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DAUK on Doctors.net

Doctors’ Association president Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden said: “It is a disgrace that NHS staff and patients are being forced to drive hundreds of miles to access a test whilst unwell if one is available to them at all. For frontline NHS staff preparing for a second wave this feels like Groundhog Day. The same problems we were having accessing testing in March appear to be repeating themselves. It seems that we are heading into a second peak having not learned lessons from the first.”

GP Dr Vinesh Patel said: “Natural winter demands, increasing numbers of Coronavirus cases, the critical need to restart normal services and reduced staff numbers will lead to the collapse of Primary Care when it is again most needed. The inevitable consequence is reduced GP appointments; forcing many patients to attend A & E inappropriately or worse not seek help when required.

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DAUK on Channel 5 News: Dr Zainab Najim talks about lack of covid tests for NHS staff

DAUK's Dr Zainab Najim on the troubles of obtaining a COVID test as an essential worker

Trainee GP, Dr Najim and her doctor husband who have symptoms have been isolated for two days trying to get a test. And so far her husband's been told by his hospital there's no priority test for him.

'We have contacted occupational health, but they can't take calls. We've left an email and their response has been that they are really, really overstretched at the moment and to try the government service in the first instance. And in the meantime, they are trying to work through the backlog.'

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