Health bosses speak on antibody tests after campaign group raises concerns

NHS Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) spoke after Wigan-born patients' group founder Louise Barnes said Greater Manchester was one area where those who have been suffering often-terrible symptoms for months after initially contracting the virus had found themselves unable to get antibody tests.

The CCG said the policies on antibody tests were set nationally and it was following them.

The tests tell people if they are likely to have had coronavirus.

This is why Ms Barnes is so keen to ensure people in her support group get them, as in many cases they have never been positively tested for Covid-19 and that is often required to gain access to rehabilitation programmes and research initiatives being carried out into the virus.

The CCG said there were circumstances where an antibody test would prove useful, but cautioned there were also limitations to what it can do.

However, it also said patients could not simply go to their GP and ask for one.

Professor Craig Harris, accountable officer of NHS Wigan Borough CCG, said: “It is important to remember that the antibody test doesn’t diagnose Covid-19 or any other illness. It also doesn’t tell you if you are immune from catching Covid-19.

“It simply tells us whether that person has antibodies for Covid in their system at the time they took the test.

“Currently, we don’t know how long the antibodies last, or how many are produced, or if they protect you from catching Covid-19 in the future so an antibody test doesn’t tell a GP very much about why a person is ill or what treatment they need.

“Like all blood tests, antibody tests are not available on request, but only where a doctor considers them to be appropriate to help them diagnose and treat people.

“In Wigan borough, a GP can send their patient for an antibody test alongside other diagnostic blood tests if they think it will help to give them a complete picture that will support them to treat a patient.

“An antibody test is most likely to be helpful if the patient hasn’t previously been tested for Covid-19, but it seems possible that they have had it.”

Ms Barnes raised the issue after becoming concerned at a mounting pile of anecdotal evidence on her Facebook support group about how tough people who clearly have developed serious long-term health problems but have no official test results were finding it to get antibody tests.

The situation across the country is resembling a postcode lottery, with GPs in some areas of the country accepting antibody tests and others not, she said.

She is also particularly concerned that patients presenting with a long list of post-Covid symptoms, including arrays of physical and psychological problems, were being told by health professionals that they had anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health conditions.

Ms Barnes described the suggestion that antibody tests would not help long-tail Covid-19 patients as “bizarre”.

And she also said health secretary Matt Hancock had previously promised they would be widely available to patients.