1/14 Widespread media pick up this morning of our press comment on trust leaders' concerns that current test shortages are impacting negatively on NHS staff and patients. Press comment can be found here: nhsproviders.org/news-blogs/new…. Thread follows.
2/14 Coverage includes BBC News Online: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-541568…; Independent: independent.co.uk/news/health/co…; Telegraph: telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/1…; Times: thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/c…
3/14 Trusts are concerned that current test shortages mean NHS staff are having to self isolate because they, and their family members, who need a test, can't access one. Worries this will affect vital service delivery, service recovery and winter preparations.
4/14 Important to remember the family angle - e.g. if NHS staff can't get their children tested they have to self isolate / stay off work to look after them. Trust leaders saying they need every possible member of staff at work given current pressures.
5/14 Trusts also concerned about impact of testing shortages on patients who need tests prior to planned hospital treatment. Trusts now seeing examples of patients being unable to get tests, cutting across trusts’ ability to restore services in way they have been asked to.
6/14 Trusts concerned, for example, that patients waiting for hospital treatment can no longer highlight this fact when applying online to access a test. Trust leaders disappointed this was done without trusts being told that it was happening.
7/14 Trust leaders from places as far as apart as Leeds, Bristol and London were flagging at the weekend that this is a growing problem for them. But, like everyone else, they feel they are working completely in the dark here....
8/14 ...They don’t know how long shortages will last and how widespread they are. They don't know what priority will be given to healthcare workers & families in accessing tests. They can't plan and help manage the problem if they don't have the information they need...
9/14 Good example - talked to one hospital trust over weekend who had set up small scale "test your own" staff testing operation to get staff tested at start of pandemic. This wasn't scalable so it was turned off when mainstream testing capacity became available....
10/14 ...This worked fine, as promised, until the last week or so when staff couldn't access tests again. So do they start up their small scale "test your own" operation again or not? If yes, for how long? They need answers!
11/14 Given the importance of an effective testing regime, not just for staff, but also for NHS patients and the general public, trust leaders want the Government to be honest and open about what is going on here - how big a problem will this be, for how long?
12/14 Trust leaders frustrated that, throughout pandemic, government has always seemed more concerned with managing political implications of operational problems rather than being open and honest about them. EG shortages of PPE and testing reagents earlier in the pandemic.....
13/14 Government response has often been to rely on a random, impressive sounding, overall statistic - number of tests performed or PPE items delivered. Or to set out bold ambition - a world class test & trace service by June, or moonshot testing regime some point next year...
14/14 ....Both approaches ignore operational problem at hand. Neither helps frontline organisations that actually have to deal with the problem. Particularly frustrating given that there are often good reasons for these problems, if only someone explained detail publicly!
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