Covid-19: PCR test market needs 'cleaning out', says Randox boss

There needs to be a "cleaning out" of the market for Covid-19 PCR tests, the head of one of the UK's biggest diagnostic firms has told the BBC.

Peter Fitzgerald, founder of Randox, said some firms may not be delivering the service they claim to provide.

He has welcomed an investigation of the sector by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The CMA, the UK's competition watchdog, is investigating whether there are pricing and reliability problems.

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests involve swabbing your nose and throat, then putting the swab in a test tube which is taken to a laboratory to be tested for Covid-19.

The UK government has made it a condition of any international travel that individuals take a test before travel and on your arrival in the UK.

The number of tests needed to be taken depends on whether you arrive from a green or amber country as well as your vaccination status.

There has been a summer of complaints about the tests from travellers and holidaymakers.

Some of the most common complaints are that tests listed on the government's list of providers do not exist at the price advertised, whilst others allege poor service.

At the start of August, the health secretary asked CMA to investigate "excessive" pricing and "exploitative practices" among PCR Covid test firms.

More than 80 private travel testing companies have been issued a two-strike warning and could be removed from GOV.UK for misleading prices, the Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid has announced.

The providers. which make up about 18% of those listed on the government website, have been identified as displaying lower prices on it than are available on their own website at the point of checkout.

If they do not take action within three days, Sajid Javid said they will be removed from the government website.

Randox, which is based in County Antrim, is one of the biggest testing providers processing about 50,000 travel tests a day.

It will be providing testing services to the UK's Paralympic team, having done the same for Team GB at the Olympics.

Mr Fitzgerald said there had been lots of great achievements in the national testing programme and in the private sector.

But he added that some providers had been "charging high amounts of money" or potentially not giving the service they claim to be giving.

He said he was "delighted" that the CMA is investigating.

"In many ways its quite good to have a cleaning out of the market and making sure you have suppliers who are doing the job right and not overcharging," he added.

Mr Fitzgerald also defended Randox's performance after some customers reported receiving their test results later than the time advertised.

Last month people also posted pictures of overflowing Randox "drop boxes" for test kits.

He said there were sometimes "surges" of drop-box use and those boxes are being emptied two to four times a day.

"We have done over 16 million tests, we have vast numbers of happy customers, nothing is perfect in life but we think we've done a good job," he added.

Mr Fitzgerald said it was very difficult to predict how long testing will continue to be a feature of international travel.

"I think testing will be here for a while but we don't know at what level," he said.