A HEALTH board has apologised after an 85-year-old left waiting almost a week to find out if she has coronavirus was told there is 'no record' of her having had the test.

Helen McCluskey, who lives in a sheltered housing complex in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, was visited by a nurse at her home last Tuesday after initially being told by a GP she would be required to attend a testing centre in Hamilton.

Her son, Dougie McCluskey, whose runs a dementia charity, said his mother was told to call NHS 111 after a few days to check if her results were available as she has no email address. 

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However, according to her son she was unable to get through despite waiting on the line for an hour.  Mr McCluskey said his sister was "fobbed off" by a call operator and told that results can take five days.

The 85-year-old has now been told by her GP practice that there is no record of her having the test and will have to wait for a repeat visit.

Mr McCluskey, who lives in the north of Glasgow and runs Battle Against Dementia, said his mother is also waiting to find out when she will receive the Covid vaccine and described her experience as "shocking".

Glasgow Times:

Nicola Sturgeon has previously acknowledged that Scotland has been slower in inoculating the over-80s and said this because the bulk of the country’s vaccine supply had been directed towards care homes.

Mr McCluskey said: "My mother hadn't been keeping too great and has had a chest infection and she called her GP and they wanted to do a test. They initially wanted to send her to Hamilton.

"A nurse came out and she was very nice and she gave her anti-biotics and also did the test and said someone would be in touch.

"She doesn't have an email address so a couple of days went by and still nothing. She was told to ring a 111 number if there were any problems. She spent over an hour on the phone and couldn't get through.

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"Then she called the doctor and was fobbed off. By this time, my sister phoned on Friday to try to speak to someone and they said it can take five days. 

"My sister said that we were very concerned and called the doctor who said it was nothing to do with them."

Mr McCluskey says his mother was then contacted and told that there was no record of her having had the test.

He said: "At the end of the day, we still don't know if she has the virus and we are having to stay away.

Glasgow Times:

"Surely there should have been a follow-up call to her to say, we've lost the results. It felt as if it didn't matter. She's also had nothing through to let her know when she will get the vaccine. "

Donald Cameron, Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary, said: "To leave this lady waiting for six days for a Covid test result is appalling in itself, and will have caused her an extraordinary amount of stress.

“She’s also a victim of the SNP’s sluggish vaccine rollout and it is simply unacceptable that she has not had her jab yet. 

An NHS Lanarkshire spokesman said: “We would like to apologise for any anxiety caused and would ask Mrs McCluskey, or a family member, to contact us directly to allow us to look into the issues that have been raised."