A British healthcare company has accused UK government of setting a “dangerous precedent” by sending out twice-weekly Covid-19 lateral flow test kits.
This is according to Salutaris People, which operates across the UK providing private Covid-19 testing for airline passengers, private individuals and businesses.
Salutaris People MD, Ross Tomkins, said if it is part of the government’s plan to use lateral flow self-testing kits in a health passport environment – where members of the public upload their own lateral flow test results to a health passport – then the system is “wide open to abuse”.
“A person who wants to go to a football match, for example, may test positive and abuse the system by uploading a false test result. Given the choice of self-testing and self-authentication, this could then very easily allow widespread abuse of the system to make a person ‘permanently negative.’ We have seen this type of situation happen where a person has tested positive and refused to self-isolate.
“The only way this system will work effectively is for trained healthcare professionals to administer all Covid testing to make sure the test is carried out properly. They can ensure the results are accurate and a certificate is issued, or a test result is scanned and uploaded to a health passport to verify and validate a genuine test result.”
Meanwhile Ben Paglia, MD of Akea Life, the clinical testing partner to Salutaris People, accused government of setting a “very dangerous” precedent by sending out twice-weekly lateral flow testing for the public to self-administer.
“We know that when the public self-administer lateral flow tests, the accuracy of results can be greatly hindered. The number of false negatives can increase significantly simply due to the lack of understanding people will have in testing themselves. This in itself can also lead to the ‘false reassurance’ that a person is ‘negative’ when in fact they may be positive or asymptomatic but carrying the virus. We know that when the tests are administered by trained healthcare professionals, the results accuracy will increase significantly. This is why the tests are indicated for healthcare professional use only.”
The pair say they firmly believe that where lateral flow tests are to be administered in place of PCR tests, they should be carried out only by trained healthcare staff. They argue that not only does this minimise the risk of false positives, but the healthcare provider can also validate a person’s genuine test result with a certificate of authentication or upload those results to a health passport.
The group is lead partner in the rapid PCR test facility at a UK airport in partnership with the Test Assurance Group (TAG) and Liverpool John Lennon Airport and is also on the UK government’s approved list of Covid-19 test providers.
