Delays at Portsmouth coronavirus testing centre in Tipner as people wait 10 days for Covid-19 results

People fearing they have the virus have been undergoing tests at the site since late April, with results promised to arrive within 48 to 72 hours.

But in some cases nothing has materialised far beyond this period. The government last week confirmed technical problems stopped them reaching their testing targets.

Last week the Department of Health and Social Care admitted sending some 50,000 swabs to America for testing due to teething problems.

Now The News can reveal the effects on people tested in Portsmouth who are waiting to hear back. It comes after people were initially given the wrong postcode for the centre and were sent down a dead-end road.

Samuel Harvey-O’Connell, 29, who is working at home for SSE, felt unwell and went on May 1 for a test. His nose and throat were swabbed at the centre.

He said: ‘I’m anxious thinking “have I got this?” and “am I not now receiving the right care or treatment?”

‘Assuming 400 people had a test (on the same day), you could have 400 in positions worse than mine because there’s no communication.

‘The card that they gave us with a contact number on it said specifically you can’t use this number to enquire about the result itself. You’ve got no communication channel.’

Samuel, who is shielding as he is classed as high risk due to his weight, added: ‘I don’t know if it’s a local issue or a country-wide issue, people really need to know.’

He has since been to his GP who confirmed Samuel has had a ‘respiratory problem of some description’ but it was not severe.

On the testing delays, he added: ‘How many more people could they have treated or spread or stopped getting infected?

‘I had a test as a (precaution) but I’m more scared that I could have it.’

Figures show 92,837 tests were provided in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday, falling short of the 100,000 a day target set last month. The target has not been met for more than a week, and includes swabs not analysed.

Among those waiting for a result is John Trimby, 68, a retired businessman who lives in Emsworth and is currently on his own.

‘I have been suffering with a chest condition,’ he said. ‘I’ve been coughing and spluttering, that’s been going on for a long, long time.

‘I don’t know if it’s that what I have, or I’ve got or had coronavirus. I thought as they’re opening up the lists (eligibility for tests) I wanted to get it.’

Mr Trimby, who is in isolation without his wife Lynne, 67, was tested on May 1 and is yet to get a result.

He added: ‘I’m in isolation anyway, there’s nobody I could see that I bump into and pass it on.

‘But there are people from the NHS or care homes and such who want to know whether they’re spreading the virus or not and if they’re not getting their results through then it could be bad.’

Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth City Council, said: ‘It’s been beset by problems all the way through. It would have been so much simpler to get the local council to have run it - at least we would have got the postcode right so people didn’t end up in the middle of a cul-de-sac.’

A government health department spokesman said more than a million people have been tested and ‘the vast majority report no issues with the process’.

The department said there was a problem with samples being processed in a 24-hour period last week, but did not say how this related to the problems at Tipner.

The spokesman added: ‘As we tackle this virus we are determined to make it fast and simple for all eligible people who need a test to get a test.’

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