Just 50 coronavirus tests are being carried out each day at a new centre that was supposed to be testing all of the borough's 8,000 social care workers, the ECHO can reveal.
As of this Monday, just 328 of Wirral's social care workers had been tested for Covid-19 at the newly set up Bidston Testing Centre - a total of just 4.1%.
Wirral MPs have today slammed the government for failing to deliver on its own plan to increase testing and protect those working and living in care homes.
There are real fears that such a small amount of testing could be putting more people at serious risk across the whole borough and beyond.
The Bidston centre, now Wirral's only testing site, is run by the borough's Clinical Commissioning Group.
It was set up at the same time that a pop-up testing centre was launched in the same location by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) as part of the government's promise to ramp up testing.
With the borough's Clinical Commissioning Group now running the main site on the ground, the responsibility for getting tests to the centre was then handed to private consultancy firm Deloitte, as has been the case at many sites across the country.
But it appears that nowhere near enough testing has been taking place in Wirral.
Wallasey MP Angela Eagle and Wirral South MP Alison McGovern have sourced the shocking new figures from Wirral Council highlighting the lack of tests taking place.
They show that:
- There are just 50 tests a day arriving and available for key workers in Wirral
- There are a total of 8,010 social care workers in Wirral
- As of Monday, just 328 of them had been tested for coronavirus at the site
The two MPs have expressed their anger and concern at the situation, which they believe is putting social care staff, vulnerable residents and the wider Wirral population at risk.
Ms Eagle said: "I am really upset and furious about this.
"There is a complete mis-match between what what the government is saying and what is actually going on on the ground.
"I'm desperately worried about the lack of testing available to try and help us fight the battle against the virus in our care homes."
Ms McGovern said the numbers represented a 'a failure of the Conservative government to deliver their own plan to increase testing.'
She added: "That matters, because testing is how we find and isolate this virus."
"Care staff deserve so much better than this. And so do their families.
"This failure puts everyone in Wirral and Merseyside at risk.
"If we are not able to isolate the virus, care staff who may be carriers (whether or not they have symptoms) could pass it on to others, making the whole situation worse.
"Wirral and Merseyside MPs have made this point numerous times to Government ministers. I am at a loss to understand why they have not listened."
Responding to the criticisms, a Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The government is working around the clock to make sure care homes and our frontline care workforce are getting the support they need to protect residents and tackle coronavirus.
“We have launched a new online portal to make it easier for care homes to arrange deliveries of coronavirus test kits. All care home staff and residents can now be tested, whether they have symptoms or not.”
