Huw Merriman, MP for the Bexhill and Battle constituency, welcomed the government roll-out of testing for all care home residents and staff.

Yesterday, Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health announced that all care home residents and staff will be able to get tested for coronavirus even if they do not have symptoms.

Huw said “I know our local care homes have been struggling with getting hold of the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and testing since the lockdown started. I have spent a lot of time over the past 3 weeks prioritising their needs both locally and with government. The Health Secretary’s announcement that all care homes and staff will now be tested will come as a great relief to all those living and working in care homes and their relatives.  They will now be able to know for certain if their residents have COVID-19 and isolate and treat them accordingly, it also means that staff who are feeling unwell will have certainty of knowing if their illness is coronavirus and whether they and their families need to self-isolate.

Our local care homes and domiciliary care workers have been doing an amazing job caring for our elderly and highest risk residents so I’m pleased that the new testing regime now means that they can be confident that they are taking the correct action for each case of illness and get the best medical support.”

The government’s new testing regime has also extended testing to all essential workers, over 65s and members of their households who are self-isolating as they are displaying coronavirus symptoms.