Coronavirus testing for all Portsmouth care home staff and residents would take 'years' at current rate

Despite the pressures on the NHS, Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham has offered to test three care home workers per day.

But with 1,147 care home beds in the city, and thousands of staff, it would take years to get everyone tested for the virus.

Hayley George, manager of Bluewater Care Home in Kingston Road, Portsmouth, says it is a ‘scary’ situation for her staff.

She said: ‘Nobody at our care home has been tested for coronavirus yet.

‘We’ve got 30 members of staff, so at that rate it would take 10 days just to test us, not even counting our residents.

‘We are very fortunate to have been symptom-free so far and my staff have been fantastic, but the reaction has been very slow – this should have been considered weeks ago, not just now.’

While Bluewater Care Home has been coping well, a number of care homes have been hit hard by coronavirus.

Harry Sotnick House in Buckland has lost nine residents to Covid-19, with a further five deaths confirmed at Shearwater residential home in Southsea.

With 39 care homes in Portsmouth, there are fears that many might not get tested at all.

Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson has spoken out against the lack of testing for care home staff in the city, calling on the government to provide testing kits as a matter of urgency.

Nationally, health secretary Matt Hancock has set a government target of 100,000 daily tests in England by May.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson said: ‘It came as an offer from the hospital but it's not much at all.

‘At that rate it would take an awfully long time – probably years – to get through everyone.

‘The government simply has to get people tested; we’re expecting these people to care for those who are high-risk, without the reassurance that they're not carrying the virus themselves.’

The Department of Health has been contacted by The News for comment.

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