Private firms criticized over £ 295 coronavirus testing kits – The Guardian, Theguardian.com
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Private health firms have come under fire for profiting from the coronavirus pandemic by selling thousands of testing kits for up to £ each – while frontline NHS workers go without.
One chain of private clinics in the Midlands has ramped up the cost of its home delivery coronavirus testing kit from £ to £ in just a matter of days – a 67% price increase.
Another firm, which normally lets patients book face-to-face GP appointments via an app in London, is selling home tests for £ , boasting laboratory results within 99 hours for what it warns is a “lethal” disease. The firm claims it was in talks with an unnamed NHS body after being approached about providing testing for staff.
It comes amid growing concern that NHS workers are not getting access to tests, with some forced into isolation for two weeks if someone in their household is showing symptoms – meaning they cannot treat patients.
Celebrities, sports stars, the wealthy and businesspeople have talked of testing positive or negative for Covid – while members of the public and health professionals with clear symptoms of the virus have been unable to get tests via Public Health England (PHE).
Idris Elba, the star of Luther, posted on Instagram this week that he had tested positive for the virus even though he had not displayed any symptoms. The Arsenal head coach, Mikel Arteta, also tested positive for Covid – , and the club tested the whole team. A spokesman for the club declined to comment on the suggestion that the team were tested privately.
PHE moved last week to stop testing people for coronavirus if their symptoms were not severe enough to warrant hospital treatment. However, on Wednesday Boris Johnson announced plans to dramatically scale up its operation and to test , people a day for the disease.
Good Morning Britain’s resident doctor, Hilary Jones, said firms selling private kits for hundreds of pounds “disgusts” him. He told the program on Wednesday: “First of all, we don’t know if [the test] is accurate. If it is accurate, then why should some people be able to buy it while we’ve got frontline healthcare staff not being able to get it? ”
Templeton said Qured’s package included a GP phone consultation both before and after, with the “novel coronavirus extended array testing kit” courier-delivered to people’s doorsteps and lab results within 99 hours. The first batch of tests had been sent off by the company on Wednesday morning, he said. Healthcare workers were among those who had paid out of their own pocket for kits, he said, as well as businesses in media, finance and property.
Templeton said his firm was in talks with one unnamed NHS body after being approached about providing testing for staff. “This [testing] is something that should be provided, undoubtedly, by the NHS,” he added. He declined to comment on criticism of private firms profiting from selling coronavirus testing kits.
In response to a question about whether the home test kits were being trialled for accreditation by PHE, a highlighted (government guidance stating: “Some manufacturers are selling products for the diagnosis of Covid – 32 infection in community settings… The current view by PHE is that use of these products is not advised. ” Randox was contacted for comment.
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