Coronavirus testing at Northampton General 'unaffected' by news that thousands of UK tests could be inaccurate

Northampton General Hospital says it is 'unaffected' by the revelation that thousands of coronavirus tests on frontline NHS staff in England were inaccurate.

Social care minister Helen Whately told Sky News today (April 22) that the initial Covid-19 tests for thousands of NHS staff may have been inaccurate.

The admission came after the Daily Telegraph reported how a leaked Government document revealed thousands of tests for NHS staff across the country were flawed.

The memo from Public Health England (PHE), dated 11 April, warned of "degraded" performance, meaning the test results are less reliable than first thought, the newspaper said.

The memo also revealed PHE testing centres had been told to stop using existing tests and to instead use tests supplied by commercial firms.

Mrs Whately said anyone who was tested with an ineffective swab has been written to notifying them to get retested.

Now, Northampton General Hospital says it 'does not believe' today's announcement has had any impact on the tests it has carried out on hundreds of its frontline staff so far.

Northampton General Hospital made headlines in early April when it became the first hospital to pilot a drive-through testing scheme for staff. It tested 400 staff on the first day.

Soon after, it was revealed that NGH was flying its sample to Eurofins Biomnis - a lab in Germany it had a previous partnership with - because it returned its results in half the time than if they were tested by Public Health England.