NICOLA Sturgeon has appealed for patience after Scots requesting Covid tests were misdirected to centres in England and Northern Ireland.

The First Minister asked people to “bear with us” while “issues” at the system, which is run by the UK Government, were corrected after a weekend of high demand.

It followed reports of multiple technical problems with the booking system, including people in Edinburgh being advised their nearest testing centre was in Newcastle. 

The BBC reported some Glasgow residents were being offered tests in Stranraer instead of Glasgow airport.

Ms Sturgeon said there appeared to have been a surge in parents seeking tests for children who had shown cold symptoms after returning to school.

Interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said there also appeared to have been an increase in people with no symptoms at all seeking tests.

The opposition parties demanded Ms Sturgeon and her ministers get to the bottom of the problem.

At the daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon insisted the testing system was generally “working well”, but also said officials were looking into glitches.

She said: “I am aware of some issues with the booking system this morning.

“We have seen exceptional testing demand over the weekend and therefore we are looking right now at how we ensure that demand is properly and appropriately managed.”

She said officials were still investigating, but people in Scotland may have “erroneously” been directed to testing centres in England rather than the next available slot in Scotland.

The First Minister continued: “Our testing system is obviously working, it’s working well, but as demand increases or at periods of high demand bear with us as we resolve and understand any particular issues.”

She said anecdotal accounts suggested many parents were taking their children to be tested after they developed coughs.

She said: “We’re going into a part of the year when people could have other illnesses and viruses that present with similar symptoms to Covid.

“So we expect to see demand for testing increasing as we go into the autumn and winter and there will undoubtedly be peaks in that demand period.”

Dr Smith said it was not uncommon to see more cases of coughs or colds as children returned to school after the summer.

He said: “I think it’s inevitable that as you bring people back together, particularly as you restart schools, you get a rebound in the volume of respiratory symptoms.

As a GP for many years, this was very common whenever schools went back.”
He said anyone with coronavirus symptoms should immediately book a test and self-isolate. However those were asymptomatic should book a test only if advised to do so by the Test and Protect team.

Tory MSP Donald Cameron said: “It’s not right that some people are being sent on 100-mile round-trips and across the border for a Covid test.

“We’ve been hearing from constituents that testing sites are struggling to cope with demand, and test results that should be delivered in 24 hours are taking several days.

“Young people and teachers have already had their lives disrupted considerably.

It’s vital that they can get back to work and school as safely and as soon as possible.

“I urge the Scottish Government to find out what’s gone wrong here and work quickly to maintain public confidence in the testing system.”

Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “Something has gone horribly wrong that Scots are being sent to Belfast and Cumbria for Covid-19 tests.

“Only last week the Health Secretary said that testing is key to actively hunting down the virus - but instead people are having to hunt down a test.

“It isn’t good enough and the Scottish Government needs to fulfil its promises on testing.”

Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “This is an extremely concerning development. We know how important it is to test quickly and contain the spread of this virus.  

“People need to have trust in the system and be provided with accurate information about the nearest test centre.  

“It would be disastrous if people displaying symptoms travel longer distances than they should. 

“The Health Secretary must get to the root of this problem urgently. We can’t afford for the system to fall down whenever demand increases.”

SNP Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny said people in his area had been offered tests in Northern Ireland. 

He said: “My casework over the weekend highlighted that there has been a clear upsurge in demand for testing.

“ However it’s not acceptable that people in Inverclyde are being asked to travel outwith our area to get a test when there is a test centre in Inverclyde.

“It beggars belief that the UK Government’s test system was asking our community to travel to Northern Ireland to receive a test.

“Even discounting that utterly unacceptable situation, it’s also not good enough to expect people to travel to sites in Lochgilphead and Edinburgh.

“We must have testing in our community and it is clear that we need to have a system in place that district nurses are deployed to test young children as opposed to asking parents to travel great lengths to then have to administer the test themselves.”