PM faces questioning over Covid testing system
Boris Johnson faces a grilling from MPs over the failing Covid test and trace system which has caused pressure on the NHS to increase.
The “test and trace” system has widely been acknowledged to be a failure and senior MPs are set to challenge the PM today as “huge pressure” mounts on the NHS.
As demand for Covid tests has increased, the testing system has struggled to cope.
There have been stories of a “high volume” of people turning up at an A&E department in Bolton demanding tests and others elsewhere having to travel hundreds of miles in order to get tested.
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust chairwoman, Donna Hall, said that patients arrived at A&E because they were unable to arrange tests online or at mobile testing stations. Hall also said: “I’ve felt that there has been a real lack of a cohesive strategy for the whole containment of Covid-19 and for test and trace.
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With Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in isolation as he awaits the test results from one of his family members, Angela Rayner will lead the questioning from the opposition. Boris Johnson is set to face the Liaison Committee later today to answer questions on his Internal Market Bill legislation proposition as well as questions on the test and trace system and other Covid complications.
Matt Hancock has already conceded that it might take a number of weeks before problems in the testing system are ironed out. Covid cases are likely to increase in the Autumn and Winter months and therefore increasing testing capacity is a matter of urgency.
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