Turnaround time for test results improved but some still reporting significant delays

Doctors are still reporting significant delays with testing for Covid-19.

The head of the HSE says turnaround time from the swab being taken to a lab result is 2.4 days.

The president of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), Dr Mary Favier, has said that while there is significant capacity for testing for Covid-19 there appears to be difficulty after testing.

Robust testing and speedy contact tracing are necessary if restrictions are going to be lifted, Dr Favier told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

There are a variety of reasons for delays, she added, but in general the testing service had improved with results, on average, coming back quickly.

Dr Favier told of how a week ago it was taking seven days for results, now it was three days for her patients, which she described as “a definite improvement.”

The ICGP had launched a helpline for GPs addressing problems, which should be of assistance, she said.

Getting results within three days was good, she said, but there were then further delays with contact tracing which could take a further two days.

That makes the service less effective especially if contacts had to be chased.

There is a good baseline service, she said, but it was necessary to find out why in some cases it was difficult to get results more quickly.

“There is significant capacity to perform tests, the difficulty appears to be after the tests are collected.”

Dr Favier said that she thought the target of 15,000 tests per day was possible if it was necessary to carry out so many.