Grandmother talks about Covid testing 'nightmare'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A Far North woman made a heartfelt plea to make Covid-19 testing easier to access in the far north after her very young grandchildren became sick and started showing symptoms of the disease.
The Thurso-based woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, talked about "a true experience of extreme stress, worry and sheer frustration" and thinks the issues may actually lead others to give up trying to get tested and could even be leading to unreliable statistics being recorded of infections in the area.
She said: "My grandchildren, who are aged three and five, came down sick with possible Covid-19 symptoms and because of this, not only did they require a test but my daughter would also need this test to put her in the all clear before she could go back to her work.
"She thought this would be straightforward and so went online and tried to book the test."
The woman's daughter and partner live in Wick with the children and found it "near impossible" to access testing services on the telephone, being told that they were very busy and to try again in a few hours.
"She then tried again and was told – through what she believed to be an automated system – they do not send tests up here. So she had to call NHS inform Scot only to be told to phone another number and that team was supposed to help her book a test.
"Then she was told there was a 'glitch' on their website for booking tests and instead of helping my daughter who had two small, extremely sick children, coughing in bed, they told her to wait to the morning, go back online and book 'one yourself'.
"I spoke with my daughter who was about to give up on the whole thing due to sheer frustration and persuaded her to give it another try. Eventually, she went back online and managed to get a test in a drive through pop-up test centre in Thurso on Sunday."
The grandmother could not understand why the family had to drive to Thurso with sick children – a 42-mile round trip with the kids vomiting– when the testing "should have easily been done" at Caithness General Hospital in Wick.
She talked about the family living on a low income and how the costs of the journey bit into their budget.
"If someone was very sick and low on energy would they give up on trying to get a test because of the barriers of being far up north? This makes me wonder if this is why the far north of Scotland has next to no cases?
"If we cannot gain access to testing then how can cases be recorded?"
She talked about the "false sense of security" in the Highlands that could be disguising a potential disaster. Though the family all received negative results, she said that the "nightmare" experience makes her fear for older people who do not use the internet and may have problems accessing the correct information.
"My daughter was about to give up, I had to keep at her to get this done. If it's that difficult to get a test then I doubt most people would persevere.
"A home testing kit would have saved all of this including taking sick children out and about."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are taking a number of steps to increase the availability and accessibility of Covid-19 tests. Eleven walk through testing sites are planned to be up and running before winter, and we are working closely with the NHS and local authorities to locate these in locations easily accessible by bike, wheel or foot across Scotland.
"As with all Covid-19 related measures, we will continue to keep access to testing under regular review."
For information on getting a test in Scotland visit www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested/pages/overview/
Thurso teacher 'in shock' over Covid testing saga
