Testing for staff

 

 

 

Remember: Hands, Face, Space. Test, Test, Test.

Changes to testing from 1 April 2022

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) wrote to all health and care providers on 30 March 2022 to advise them of new arrangements for staff and patient testing for Covid-19 from Friday 1 April 2022.

In the coming weeks they will be setting out a way forward on several areas where guidance has evolved throughout the pandemic – adapting the way that the NHS operates with COVID-19 in general circulation and with the virus likely to remain prevalent for some time to come.

The following new guidance applies at LYPFT from 1 April 2022:

All patient-facing staff are to complete twice-weekly lateral flow tests. You can order free LFD test kits from www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests. There is an update on the ordering process for staff below.

Please report your negative or positive result through our online survey.

If you are symptomatic or get a positive LFD test result, please stay at home and contact the Trust’s IPC team on 0113 85 55957 or email infectioncontrol.lypft@nhs.net.

Any member of staff who has been in contact with a positive case or has a household member who is positive does not need to isolate or complete a PCR test. They will just require their twice-weekly lateral flow tests unless they become symptomatic – at this point they should contact the IPC team.

Staff who test positive should continue to follow the current return to work guidance i.e. if you get a negative LFD test result on days five and six (24 hours apart), you can return to work.

LAMP testing will no longer be available after 31 March 2022 (pilot at OPS, The Mount).

Staff undertaking COVID-19 tests as part of a research study (e.g., SIREN) should follow the protocols of their study. Please contact your local study coordinator for further details.

Update on accessing lateral flow device testing kits

NHS staff can order free lateral flow test kits via the usual gov.uk website route at www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests.

We would ask that staff use this site as their primary source of test kits. We continue to ask staff to test themselves if they are:

• In a patient-facing role,
• Coming onto a Trust site for any purpose, or
• Coming together with other staff members for work related activities (on or off site).

When clicking the disclaimer on the gov.uk website to order test kits, the Trust considers staff undertaking the three activities listed above as being “in a patient-facing role” and “taking part in the NHS staff testing programme”.

The Trust holds a small central stock of testing kits, and if any patient-facing staff are struggling to access testing kits they can ask their line manager to source them from the central stock. However we do need to prioritise test kits for our inpatients so please access from the link above where at all possible.

Download a poster to display in staff areas as a reminder of the importance of regular testing.

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Guidance and information on testing

Here’s a five minute short training video on the NHS Learning Hub from the Chief Nurse at NHS Test and Trace, which provides step-by-step instructions on self-administering a Lateral Flow COVID-19 test.

Here’s a 7 page step-by-step guide which sets out how the test can be self-administered.

If you are in a rush, here’s a quick check list:

• Prepare your test area and unpack your equipment
• Take your swab sample (nasal swab in both nostrils)
• Process your sample and wait 30 minutes
• Read and report your result
• Carefully dispose of the test device and equipment in your household rubbish.

Recording your results

Whatever your test result (positive or negative), you must enter your results on our Trust’s reporting system after each and every test or alternatively on the GOV.UK website.

You can report via a very simple form here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/L7VX8O/

If you have any problems, please contact the Trust’s Infection Control Team on 0113 85 55957 or email infectioncontrol.lypft@nhs.net.