Two Fife councillors have raised concerns over a pop-up Covid-19 testing centre that opened on Monday.
Leader of Fife Council Liberal Democrats Tim Brett and his colleague Jonny Tepp visited the temporary community testing centre in the car park of Waterstone Crook sports centre, Newport-On-Tay, on Wednesday.
Mr Brett says the centre has capacity for 500 tests a day but staff told them it had only done 10 on Monday.
He says they encountered issues with the booking system and he fears the public do not know the centre is there. The councillors are concerned public complacency over coronavirus is creeping in.
Mr Brett said: “Jonny Tepp and I went to see how it worked and Jonny had a test. You have to book in advance.
“I had previously asked if it would be walk in, as I think it needs to be that easy for people, and was originally told you should book but if anyone turns up they would be done. Then, on Wednesday, I was told you must book.
“There were six members of staff there but on Monday they only had 10 people turn up for tests. I thought two or three of the staff could have been putting leaflets through doors while waiting for people to turn up.”
The Newport-on-Tay site is a combined mobile testing unit, provided by National Services Scotland and staffed by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS).
Mr Brett continued: “My concern is that the centre is not very well publicised. Jonny and I have done our best and notified all our community councils and our newsletter lists to highlight the facility, in the hope more people will come forward.”
‘We don’t need to worry’ attitude’
“It is a very good thing that nationally the numbers of coronavirus cases are dropping but people are beginning to get into a ‘we’re getting through this, we don’t need to worry’ attitude.
“Up to a third of people may be carrying the virus and have no symptoms so I would have liked to have seen people queuing up to be tested. How many people are turning up? The centre can test both for people with symptoms and those who don’t have symptoms.
“It is frustrating because I suspect this might be the same pattern as in many places now.”
NHS Fife says it is running a range of campaigns including local radio advertising, targeted social media advertising and social media campaigns as well as using local influencers and community groups to encourage the public to get tested whether they have symptoms or not.
A spokesperson said: “As word spreads, we would expect to see an increase in numbers over the coming days.
“Nationally NHS Scotland have been running the Test and Protect Campaign and NHS Fife has also been promoting and sharing this campaign material. The NHS Fife website has a range of information on community testing.
“The online booking and phoneline is a national system operated by NSS (National Services Scotland) and not NHS Fife. We will raise this individual example with our national colleagues.”
A number of other testing sites are available in Fife.
