Lord Bethell, the Department of Health and Social Care, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL4375):
Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reported complaint made by the chairman of the trustees of the Fairfield Residential Home in Oxford, that COVID-19 testing swabs were not delivered and that symptomatic carers who are self-isolating have to make an 120 mile journey in order to be tested. (HL4375)
Tabled on: 13 May 2020
Answer:
Lord Bethell:
The Department recognises that this occurred due to an error which has since been rectified. All failed deliveries were replaced and we now have more than 500 test sites around the United Kingdom with the median distance people travel to sites at just 3.3 miles.
The adult social care sector has been, and continues to be, one of our highest priorities for the rollout of testing, and care homes have been one of the first groups to be given access to repeat asymptomatic testing.
Asymptomatic testing in care homes testing has not stopped, while any care home resident or member of staff with symptoms will continue to be able to immediately access a free test.
We are issuing more than 120,000 tests a day to care homes across the country prioritising high priority outbreak areas.
Date and time of answer: 28 Oct 2020 at 11:58.
