At Urgent Questions today, Jason asked the Health Secretary Matt Hancock about how the Covid-19 testing for local care home residents and staff is being rolled out.
Jason McCartney MP
I have a local care home that, thankfully, is free from covid-19 at the moment. The manager there is trying to get all his staff tested, just to check that they are free from covid-19 too. Not all those staff have a car, so they are not able to travel the miles to the local mobile testing facility. Can the Secretary of State tell me the best way for that manager to get his staff tested so that they can continue to look after all their vulnerable residents in a safe way?
Matt Hancock MP
Yes, we are rolling out testing to all care home residents and staff, symptomatic or asymptomatic, for elderly care homes. I announced that at the start of this urgent question. It is an important expansion of our testing now that we have built up the 100,000 tests a day capability. We will do that in part through mobile testing units, which are delivered by the armed forces; the testing unit goes to the care home, and staff and residents alike can be tested at the care home rather than having to travel. Clearly, whether people have a car of their own or not, when we test a whole care home, taking the testing to the care home rather than having to take everybody from the care home to a drive-through centre is a much better way of doing it.
I am very grateful to the armed forces for the part they have played in making this capability available. Our armed forces have done an amazing job in this whole crisis. Right across the board, the armed forces have stepped up where we have needed them. They have played a critical part in testing capability; we would not have got to 100,000 tests a day without them. The example that my hon. Friend rightly raises is just one of the ways our armed forces are playing their part and doing their duty in this crisis.
