Parents in Sheffield 'are getting desperate' with children unable to get tested for Covid-19

Children testing positive for Covid-19 across Sheffield are being asked to stay at home for up to two weeks, with many schools also enforcing the same ruling for any pupil in the same ‘bubble’ as the infected individual.

There are currently over 20 schools with confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Sheffield area.

The Government advised that any parents worried about their children having symptoms of coronavirus, such as a persistent cough, high temperature, or loss of smell or taste, then they could order a home test kit through the NHS website.

However, Chrissy Meleady, director of Sheffield-based Equalities and Human Rights UK, is now getting increasingly concerned that it impossible for parents to find out whether their children even have the virus in the first place, with tests in the area on short, or no, supply – and this includes parents of children with disabilities.

Chrissy Meleady said: “It is children across the board, but I have a particular concern for kids with disabilities.

"When people are ringing up 119, or seeking an opportunity to get a Covid test, they are getting referred to places out of the city as they are being told that we have run out of tests in the city.

“I spoke to a Mum with three kids and she contacted the Covid line yesterday, but she was told to go to Reading.

"There is something seriously remiss in the city that people are being sent as far as that.”

The Covid-19 support number, 119, has been inundated with calls over the last week, and many callers are re-directed to the Government website, where it informs them that there are no tests available in their area.

There is a concern that children will be passing on the virus without known as tests are become harder to come by.

Sheffield mum Jo Muscroft told The Star that it was ‘frustrating’ that she was unable to get a test for her 14-year-old son, despite the fact that he had one of the Covid-19 symptoms.

In response, a spokesperson from the Sheffield City Council said: “If you can’t get a test on the day, try again later or try the next day.”

Chrissy Meleady says that she has had first hand experience of the desperation parents are going through in order to get a test: "I was in the hospital myself the other day and there were parents turning up there with children, to the accident and emergency, because they had tried over the phone to get access to a Covid test, as they were coughing and not very well, but couldn’t.

"They were then told to go to the Children’s Hospital, and one was even sent to the GP centre.

“Parents are getting desperate, and when I spoke to the parent in the hospital, she said she had tried everywhere and that her child had a temperature and a cough and that there were children in their school that were unwell, but she still couldn’t get a test.

“Parents are getting more and more increasingly worried by having to be sent out of city as some parents can’t drive, some don’t have the money to get trains, and should they be getting public transport in order to access a Covid test, anyway?

“We are seeing an increase in schools with bubbles breaking down, and a demand for tests children is getting higher."

Chrissy has also reached out to Greg Fell, Sheffield’s director of Public Health, because of her concerns about children with disabilities being unable to do the tests in their current form.

She is concerned that for many children with physical impairments, sensory issues, or autism, even once they get hold of a test, it is near impossible for them to be able to do it due to a swab being used in the mouth or nose.

"There is no prioritisation from what I can see, and there has been no adaptation put in place, even though we have the Equality Act 2010.

"There seems to be no adaptation put in place for disabled people per se, including children.

"The tests itself are swabs and there has been no regard given that some of these children with physical impairments restrict them being able to open their mouths, or where they have sensory issues aligned to sensory disorders, or autism, where they are having a meltdown and in a state when they are having a test.

“Some parents are being told to go to Doncaster, but when they are there the children cannot even take the test because there is no adaptation, it’s horrendous.

"I spoke to Public Health to try and get some adaptation in Sheffield and for the UK, and we are waiting for the Department for Health and Social Care to come back to advise Public Health Sheffield what might be done, but we still haven’t had anything back from last week.

"Greg Fell has been brilliant in chasing it up as it is an issue for the whole of the UK, but particularly for our children in our region.”

You can get advice from NHS 111 if you're worried about your child’s symptoms or not sure what to do.

Visit www.contact.org.uk/advice-and-support/covid-19/ for more coronavirus information for families with disabled children.