GP staff access to Covid testing ‘vital’ says RCGP

Responding to reports of shortages of Covid tests, Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the following.

"Covid testing is key to ensuring GPs and other healthcare professionals are safe to deliver frontline patient care.

"Staff becoming sick or having to isolate due to testing positive for Covid is already a significant problem in general practice at a time when we need all hands on deck to deliver the booster vaccination campaign and essential patient care and services. We cannot afford for healthcare staff, right across the NHS, to be unable to safely return to work simply because they cannot access a test.

“It is vital that GPs and other healthcare professionals working in the NHS are able to easily and quickly access Covid-19 tests, including lateral flow tests, when they need them. The sooner healthcare professionals can be tested, the sooner that those who test negative can safely go back to delivering frontline patient care.”

Further information

(For media only)

RCGP Press office: 020 3188 7633/7574/7575
Out of hours: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editor

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 52,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.