Suffolk Coastal MP Theresa Coffey, who represents the Felixstowe area in parliament, has faced criticism after she and fellow Conservatives voted against a motion calling for NHS and social care staff to be routinely tested for covid-19 regardless of symptoms.MPs have rejected a motion calling for NHS and social care staff to be routinely tested for covid-19 regardless of symptoms, as the country emerges from lockdown.

The motion, proposed by Labour's shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, fell with 344 votes cast against and 198 for. However, this was not before an amendment on the motion, put forward by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and health secretary for England, Matt Hancock, was passed, which praised the government for its "tireless efforts."

Despite rejecting the motion the government said it would introduce "regular surveillance testing of staff" on at least a fortnightly basis, although it did not provide further detail on how this would work.

Her vote was met with dismay by some of those on Felixstowe, with connections to the NHS.

June Rose, of Faulkeners Way, told Nub News: "I would love to know why our MP voted against these tests.

"Just weeks ago everyone was out clapping for our carers, including her and her party colleagues, yet know they do this. It is a slap in the face.

"I'm retired now, but fiends still involved are the same as me, absolutely livid at the hypocrisy and continuous poor treatment of NHS workers.

"Hopefully she will explain why she has gone against NHS workers, but it seems we only really get to hear from here locally when there is going to be an election."

Speaking in the House of Commons Mr Ashworth called on the government to remove the private companies running the NHS Test and Trace service call centres and put local public health officials and GPs in charge instead.

He said, "We believe it is time for the government to invest in public health services, put GPs in the driving seat of testing, to give local authorities the localised data that they need, and to begin routine testing of all NHS staff whether symptomatic or not."

Ashworth also pointed to an article written by the former Conservative health secretary Jeremy Hunt, in which he said, "We must commit to weekly tests of NHS staff to prevent a second spike."

During the early months of the pandemic NHS staff were unable to get tested, meaning many may have had to self isolate unnecessarily and were unable to work. However, as testing capacity was built up, they were prioritised for testing if they showed symptoms.

Ashworth said, "We accept and understand that ministers will have made mistakes throughout this crisis; it was an unprecedented pandemic. But ministers have been slow, their response has been disorganised, the scale and nature of the pandemic, even though it was at the top of the risk register, has at times been underestimated.

"But ministers can learn from their mistakes. They can take the advice of the former health secretary, they can start putting in place a programme for mass testing starting with NHS staff, because we need it for our national health service."

The motion called on the government to "implement a routine weekly