All NHS workers to get coronavirus testing if needed, Matt Hancock vows

All NHS and social care staff who need a coronavirus test will now be able to get one, Matt Hancock has said.

The Health Secretary added in a video statement that testing as many healthcare workers as possible was vital to getting NHS and social care staff who are self-isolating with suspected symptoms back to work.

The Department of Health and Social Care did not respond to a query about the exact number of tests available.

The Government has been criticised for the lack of testing given to NHS staff and the wider public in recent weeks.

It emerged in early April that an NHS nurse who died of suspected Covid-19 hadn't been tested by the time he passed away at home - despite paramedics having been called at one point.

The current Government target is for 100,000 tests to be done every day by the end of April.

But April 10 saw only slightly more than 19,000 tests completed.

This contrasts with other European countries such as Germany, which has been completing more than 50,000 tests per day for weeks.

Germany has about 50,000 more confirmed coronavirus cases than the UK, but around 6,000 fewer deaths.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in early April that testing was key to unlocking the coronavirus "puzzle".

“This is how we will defeat it in the end,” Mr Johnson added.

And Government coronavirus adviser Neil Ferguson told the BBC in April that mass testing is vital to ending the lockdown and reopening some workplaces.

The British Medical Association, which has been critical of Mr Hancock's recent comments regarding personal protective equipment for NHS staff, welcomed the move but said that "it's vital that this becomes a reality now, not sometime in the future"

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, told the Standard: “At a time when we need our NHS workforce more than ever, it’s vital that all staff and their household members are tested to ensure that as many healthcare workers as possible can contribute to the already enormous effort going into fighting this disease on the frontline.

“Thousands of healthcare workers are currently self-isolating, not knowing if they have the virus, or are carrying it. This is depleting the NHS of talented professionals when a simple test could make all the difference.

“The BMA acknowledges the Government’s step to open 15 new drive-thru sites along with testing labs, but it’s vital that this becomes a reality now, not sometime in the future, if we are going to see any significant increase in the numbers going back to work. It is also essential that healthcare workers are tested more than once.

“The Government’s must equally deliver on its strategy on testing 100,000 people daily as a matter of urgency, as well as continuing the effort to open as many new testing facilities across the UK as possible.”