Concerns end of free Covid tests could add more pressure on NHS
From Friday, everyone will have to pay for them apart from over-75s and over-12s with weakened immune systems
Last updated 31st Mar 2022
There are concerns that the end of free coronavirus testing could put even more pressure on the NHS in North Yorkshire.
From Friday (1 April), free lateral flows testing kits will only be available to the over-75s and over-12s with weakened immune systems - everyone else will have to pay for a swab kit.
Sarah Dodsworth from the Royal College of Nursing in Yorkshire said: "Covid is rising. We've got more staff off sick than ever before. Hospitals are still a place where you're more likely to catch Covid than ever before, let alone the impact on the independent sector by which I mean nursing homes and the impact on families who would be visiting and paying to visit relatives.
"I think many people won't be able to afford to pay for the tests so they'll have no choice but to risk it. It just doesn't seem fair that staff working in health or anywhere really would have to pay to go to work, that on top of the fuel costs is just another kick in the teeth for them.
"We've seen a 60 percent increase in NHS staff being off sick in the last two weeks. It's impossible to know how many are in nursing homes who are off sick, so it's already going through the roof. It's just that people aren't as sick.
"I know it's expensive but actually it's an expense that we need to take because otherwise the cost will be great. It's going to impact the NHS because everyone's trying to get people through those waiting lists but if staff are off sick, the waiting lists stop and get fuller."