Hamilton testing centre staff took a ‘beating’ from public for test result delays for weeks, manager says

Staff at a Hamilton COVID-19 testing centre have taken a beating" from the public for weeks over test result delays that were no fault of their own, says a manager involved in running the centre.

People were returning to the drive-thru ... and insinuating that we lost their samples and it was our fault," said Laurel Turnbull, manager of nursing, complex care and quality improvement with the Hamilton Family Health Team. Badmouthing us and demanding to be retested."

Their anger was misplaced, but the delays were unfortunately connected to the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena drive-thru testing centre.

On Wednesday, Ontario Health, the agency responsible for overseeing COVID labs across the province, told The Spectator a coding (issue) between laboratory information systems" ongoing since April was to blame for test result delays plaguing Hamiltonians. In some cases, residents missed out on visits with loved ones in long-term care homes due to delays of more than 10 days.

The issue was isolated to the drive-thru centre.

Ontario Health says the issue is resolved. No positive tests were affected.

Hopefully it is truly fixed," Turnbull said Thursday. She said she felt a sense of relief" when she learned through media reports the issue had been identified and resolved.

For three weeks, Hamiltonians tested at the drive-thru have been returning to the centre daily to vent about their delayed tests. Many wanted to visit relatives in long-term care, a process which, at the time, required a negative result from a test taken within 14 days. They were facing tight deadlines.

Our hearts go out to them," Turnbull said. (But) we have no control over what happens to swabs when they leave the building.

We were unfortunately blamed for a problem that wasn't ours."

Questions remain about what the coding issue was, how many people it impacted and why it took three months to identify it. Ontario Health did not respond to questions by deadline Thursday.

While the issue went undetected and unresolved, the Hester Street testing centre increasingly became not a nice place to work," sad Turnbull, describing a team grappling with a heat wave, a ramped-up demand for testing and people returning with complaints.

My staff have been working extremely hard in really unbearable situations at different points," she said. The whole thing has been unfortunate."

More than 1,600 people have been tested at the drive-thru since it opened April 17. A staff of 10 are regularly testing between 200 and 220 people over a five-hour period. They wear full personal protective equipment, even in the sweltering heat. Staff have tested as many as 300 people in one day.

It's a lot," Turnbull said.

While the bulk of the public's complaints went to public health - there is no number to call for the drive-thru - it is unfair" that Turnbull's staff took such a beating" for a problem that wasn't theirs, she said.

And when asked by Ontario Health last week to find a way to get people faster results, they jumped through hoops" to do so, she said.

People tested at the drive-thru who don't see their results on the provincial portal after four days can now return to the site between noon and 3 p.m. on weekdays. On-site, staff require a person's government-issued photo ID. Then they log into a database called Clinical Connect, typically accessed by physicians, through which they access the result and print it off. That seems to get around the issue of tests not appearing on the provincial portal due to the coding glitch.

Staff will offer the service for however long it's needed, Turnbull said.

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com