Symptomatic mum and son with lung disease told to take nearly three-hour round trip for test

Carol Hatcher, 42, who lives in North Anston with her husband Richard, a firefighter, and their three children, was told on Thursday morning (10 September) she would have to travel to Oldham, Greater Manchester to get tested.

She began feeling unwell after her daughters, Neve, 10, and Amalie, four, returned to school last week. However, when her symptoms worsened and she developed a “horrendous” cough which made her sick, she became concerned for her three-year-old son Riley.

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Riley has now developed symptoms, Carol said.

"He was coughing last night to the point he was sick. Straight away you are thinking ‘Oh God’,” the estate agent told The Star.

"Should it deteriorate I don’t even know what to do, that’s the scary thing.”

Riley was born at 26 weeks and spent two months on a ventilator. At eight months, his lung collapsed following an infection. The youngster was being shielded until last month to protect him from Covid-19.

Carol said: “I couldn’t believe they expected me to get in the car and drive all the way to Oldham.

"The new restrictions make no difference if you can’t get tested. It doesn’t matter how many people you come into contact with.”

She added: “Mine and Richard’s jobs are in the public, we need to be able to go and get tested. It’s ridiculous.”

Neve and Amalie have been kept out of school in case they are infected and spread the virus to staff and students.

Carol added: "It just seems to have gone from testing centres popping up everywhere to nothing. It seems like this across the board, it’s ridiculous considering we are this far into it.”

Nationally, there have been several reports of people forced to travel large distances to get tested, with results delayed due to capacity issues in labs.

On Thursday afternoon Carol managed to book a test in Rotherham for later that day.

To book a free coronavirus test, visit the NHS website.