Children effectively shunted to back of queue for tests - despite calls for Blackpool youngsters to be screened for headaches and sore throats

The Government's Covid-19 fiasco continued this morning, with children effectively put at the back of the queue for tests.
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted swabs would be rationed as the system continues to struggle to cope with soaring demand - with no tests available for Blackpool residents for a third day running.

With priority given to those with acute medical needs and in social care, children, who are said to be at the lowest risk of getting seriously ill with Covid, face waiting the longest.

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock (Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)Health Secretary Matt Hancock (Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)
Health Secretary Matt Hancock (Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Westcliff Primary Academy in Bispham even closed for two weeks after two positive cases.Dr Rajpura said: "The national testing system is quite frankly inadequate, we need more testing and the increase in demand that has happened since the schools went back should have been anticipated.

"Bearing in mind the lack of testing capacity I can understand why the care homes and health and social care staff have been prioritised due to the vulnerable individuals involved.

"But we need more testing so that schools can be included in that list.

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"To keep the schools open and make sure we don’t risk outbreaks we need testing for children and families.

"We are trying our best to put local arrangements in place to help support our families to get tested if they are symptomatic. But nationally this needs sorting out as soon as possible.

Geoff Barton, generation secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Children are being sent home who cannot get tests, and parents are being forced to take two weeks off to look after them.

"We will end up in effective lockdown."

Headteachers across the Fylde coast have been told that local access to testing should be improved in the coming weeks, with a mobile unit set to arrive in Blackpool for two days tomorrow.And Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said testing capacity was “ramping up”.

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He said: “I’m not shying away from the current issue but what I’m trying to explain is that rather than us sitting back and pretending all is well, we have accepted the scale of the challenge, we’re ramping up the test centres, we have increased laboratory capacity, new labs coming on-stream so we can get that quick turnaround.”

He added: “The fact the Government kept on saying about the dangers of a second wave, at all times the Prime Minister, all of us, were absolutely focused on the dangers of the second wave – we have seen what’s happening in France.

“We absolutely are onto this in terms of understanding that through the autumn, if we are to get the balance between getting the economy back on track and getting children into school, then all of us now have a special responsibility to follow all those guidelines and do whatever it takes to beat this virus.”

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, called on the Government to prioritise the education sector for the allocation of tests.

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In a letter to the schools minister, Dr Roach said the union had heard of approximately 600 pupils being told to self-isolate in one local authority area, Bury, and he said the “number is growing”.

The union leader told Nick Gibb that pupils who have been sent home with symptoms are “facing uncertainty” about when or where they will be able to access a test.

He warned that the delays in testing have meant some students and staff who are part of a “bubble” within a school are not being isolated even where there are multiple suspected cases.

“This is putting at risk the health and safety of others within the school and within the local community,” Dr Roach said.

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Schools have been hit with Covid-19 cases since it became compulsory for pupils to return.

Some have closed their doors days after reopening while others have told whole year groups and classes to self-isolate for two weeks following confirmed cases.

NASUWT members are “expressing serious concerns about the failure” of the testing system and the impact on schools, the letter to Mr Gibb says.

Dr Roach said: “In particular, areas where additional local restrictions have been introduced due to the increase in the R-number are now unable to cope with demand for tests.

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“Teachers, support staff and children and young people are unable to access tests where they have Covid-19 symptoms.

“Employers are struggling to deal with the implications and consequences.”

He added: "

Schools appear to be seeking to do their utmost to carry on.

“However, we have reports that schools are unable to cope with a situation that is becoming increasingly out of control.”

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Earlier this week, Dr Roach warned Gavin Williamson of the possibility of legal action if the Government fails to protect teachers working in schools which have fully reopened during the pandemic.

In a letter to the Education Secretary, Dr Roach demanded that stronger protections are put in place in schools which opened their doors to all pupils full-time this month.

Earlier this week, resort mum Nicola Burns, whose children were off school for a week with sore throats, stomach aches, and coughs, said it took "two days of checking every 20 minutes" to get a test.

"We were offered Fife and Inverness," she said.

Inverness, in Scotland, is 350 miles from Blackpool, a much greater distance than the maximum of 75 miles the Government previously said people would have to travel.

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The nearest permanent testing centre is around 17 miles away in Preston.

Nicola, who said she was still waiting for the test results to come back, is "pretty confident" her children only had colds.

"They have been locked up for months so are bound to pick anything and everything up, but their schools wanted them tested before they returned," she said.

"At least they are being thorough."

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