Councillors have raised concerns over the scrapping of free Covid testing in Nottinghamshire amid the cost of living crisis. It has been argued businesses and schools may be impacted as poorer people are forced to choose between heating, eating or testing.
The fears were raised during a Nottinghamshire County Council social care and public health meeting on Monday, April 25, by councillor David Martin, who represents Selston for the Ashfield Independents and councillor Steve Carr, who represents Beeston North for the Liberal Democrats.
They came as Jonathan Gribbin, the director of public health in Nottinghamshire, said "we should continue to see fresh waves of infection" due to new variants and changes in immunity. It was argued free testing should remain to allow society to function properly, particularly in school and business settings, and as to prevent further health inequalities.
Read more: Significant pressures on Nottinghamshire's hospitals
Mr Gribbin says an estimated one in 15 people had Covid in the run up to Easter but that this looks to be slowly coming to a plateau. He added it is "a concern" for schools and businesses in particular, both of which it can have an "enormous" impact on.
However, more positively and as a result of generally successful vaccination of the population, cases of severe illness are "very few". But several hundred remain in hospitals with Covid, with "a handful" on mechanical ventilation.
Despite the more positive case numbers they do in fact remain high and pressures on Nottinghamshire's hospitals have reached a point whereby GPs are being asked to work on wards. It is a situation one doctor said he had never experienced before.
Nottinghamshire received £29m from the Government's Control Outbreak Management Fund which was invested in the Covid response across the county. Of this £9m remains uncommitted, meaning the county is in a "relatively favourable position".
Councillor Carr said some local authorities, while few, were still providing free LFTs. These include places such as Portsmouth, which is controlled by the Lib Dems.
He says poorer people, already living through the cost of living crisis, face a "terrible choice" or either heating their homes, eating or testing. He said: "If you're a family on a very, very limited budget, which many families are now, are you going to spend between £5 and £9.50 on Covid tests when you've got food [to buy] and Jimmy is coming home with the soles hanging off his shoes? This is probably the biggest mistake."
Councillors asked whether some of the remaining £9m should be used to finance free testing. "Are we ruling out providing free Covid tests?" councillor Carr said.
He also asked if it had been "a political decision rather than an officer decision". "I think at the moment with rates now starting to head downwards my position is that it would not represent a good investment of that money," Mr Gribbin says.
"It's not the best use of public money but if the situation changes I might have to come back and shuffle into a different position." The money will instead help the authority plan for "if the worst happens" and "a new variant is encountered", meaning the county may have to revert to some of the arrangements seen in the past.
Boyd Elliott, Conservative councillor for Calverton and chairman of the committee, also responded to say the council was "following guidance".
