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Lateral Flow Tests - The First and Only NHS Health Tests You Have To Buy!

The beginning of the end for NHS 'free' health checks

With the report in the Sunday Times (9th January 2022) that the Government intends to abolish 'free' Lateral Flow Testing by the NHS; the principle of NHS services being 'free at the point of delivery' has now been abolished!

To date any healthcare testing required to be done, no matter how small or large; is provided free based on the above principle as quoted first by Blair's Government just prior to it using private healthcare companies into the NHS.

However, soon that will all change, starting with the Lateral Flow tests that the Government wants everyone to use to test themselves for Covid-19 and, on a daily bases for some working environments and occupations.

The report in the Sunday Times said:

"Free lateral flow tests face the axe under plans for living with Covid which Boris Johnson will announce within weeks.

More than £6 billion of public money has been spent on mass testing using the devices.

The new system could mean free tests being provided only in high-risk settings such as care homes, hospitals and schools, and to people with symptoms. Contact tracing by NHS Test and Trace is also likely to be scaled back."

The Daily Mail, Tory favourite tabloid in which to 'leak' probable policies in order to gauge public reaction; reported:

"Britons set to pay for lateral flow tests from July under 'Operation Rampdown', Government documents reveal

Ministers have urged Britons to take the swabs regularly in an attempt to quell the spread of [Covid variant] Omicron  — but only key workers will be able to access free tests if No10's mooted plan to 'ramp down the Universal Testing Offer' gets signed off. 

Instead, officials say an online ordering system will be ready by the end of June to direct Britons to purchase the tests, which are said to cost the Government £30 per pack of seven."

Whilst the cost of the kits is pure speculation and perhaps 'a guide price' set by No 10; there is no guarantee this will actually be the cost in reality.  

Of course the profits of the small and numerous companies providing the test kits will not be dented as costs for the kits will be hiked up by the manufacturers and the Tory principle of profiteering from the Virus that has killed over 150,000 UK residents continues.

The Mail-on-line article continued:

"The document sent between the Department of Health and UK Health Security Agency shows the public are expected to have to start paying for lateral flow tests from July, a later date than originally planned due to the emergence of the super infectious Omicron strain. 

It states there will be a 'triage' system to inform people whether they are eligible for a free test. It acknowledged that some of those who expected to get a free test but could no longer get one would react 'negatively'."

Having broken the principle of providing free healthcare testing, this can easily be seen as being the thin edge of the wedge with Covi-19 tests being charged for and the principle of self-testing rather than the NHS is now introduced.

This is why public reaction is key to the Government getting away with using LFT Covid testing as a way of introducing charging for majority of healthcare screening tests, and making them 'DIY Kits'. This also falls in line with the Tory aim of people being responsible for their own health and only visiting a GP as a last resort.

The use of self-testing kits and artificial intelligence run mobile phone apps as a way of monitoring your own health, is just one aspect of NHS England's plans for the next five years in order to reduce NHS costs and therefore make the new ICS profitable for the private companies taking over from the NHS.

This website has previously reported on the Government's increased use of 'Life Sciences' sector as it is called, with the Government report being available from the Unionsafety E-Library.

The Tory Government will argue of course that Lateral Flow Testing kits are NOT provided by the NHS - so another service by the N HS is being removed is it? You can't have it both ways!

NHS England has already removed 31 procedures from the NBHSS which patients now have to pay for by going to a private healthcare company to get the procedure done. This includes facial skin problems deemed to be 'only cosmetic', with even skin cancer preventative examinations not being performed if a GP decides the problem is one of vanity.

The way is now open for other healthcare testing to be charged for - blood tests, cervical cancer screening tests, and other forms of tests could well be the next steps in the introduction of the American-Style and insurance based healthcare system (ICS) and the eventual ending of the NHS altogether! Source:

Sunday Times / Mail-on-line / Unionsafety

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