Coronavirus: Fife drive through test centre set up for health staff

NHS Fife has introduced the new drive-through testing programme for a select group of health and social care workers to support the resilience of its services during the coronavirus pandemic.

In common with many other parts of the country, a number of health and social care workers in Fife have had to self-isolate for 14 days if a member of their household displayed symptoms consistent with coronavirus, and seven days if they display symptoms themselves.

Drive-through testing has started and is prioritising frontline workers and their immediate household contacts to enable those assessed as not carrying the virus to return to caring for patients.

Testing is available only for those who meet strict criteria, and is limited to those critical in the frontline service delivery of health and social care services and their shared household contacts. Only people within 72 hours of the onset of a new continuous cough and/or temperature in excess of 37.8° will be tested.

Those presenting at the site without an appointment will be turned away.

Prioritised staff will be contacted and advised of their appointment time. If several members of a family are symptomatic, only the household member with the most recent date of onset and/or most clear cut symptoms will be prioritised for testing.

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They will be told to stay in theire cars while the test is carried out by health staff wearing personal protective equipment.

A single swab is taken from the throat and nose and sent for analysis to NHS Fife’s laboratories at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. The result will be given the following day.

If the result is positive for a staff member or their household contact,halth, and, in most cases will be allowed to return to work.

The programme is set to expand to include testing of critical social care staff working in Fife from next week.

Dona Milne , NHS Fife’s director of public health, said: “Our new staff testing arrangements help make us more resilient in the face of unprecedented levels of pressure on our services.

“Health and social care staff across Fife are currently pulling out all the stops to ensure that we can continue to provide the best possible standard of care for those who need it most.

“If we are to do that then we need to make the very best use of the skills, dedication and experience of our entire workforce.

“The dedication shown by our staff over recent weeks has been second-to-none, and for those having to self-isolate this been a source of some frustration. By testing those priority staff, we will be enabling many to return to work to support their colleagues in doing what we know they do best – providing the best possible care to the people of Fife.

“Thank you to all the teams who have come together to make this new testing facility work.”

NHS Fife has said hospitalised patients will continue to be prioritised for testing.