Test nursing home staff for the virus every 14 days, says Swann

HEALTH Minister Robin Swann has said that he would like to see Northern Ireland’s care home staff tested for Covid-19 every 14 days.

Mr Swann was speaking after it was announced that testing would now be rolled out to all care home residents and staff here.

He told BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme that while no firm schedule was in place he hoped staff could be tested in 14day cycles.

Mr Swann said he hoped this could be extended to all health care staff.

The UUP MLA said homes with active infections would be prioritised.

Mr Swann said the Executive had “acted quickly” to close down care homes to visitors and limit contact, but acknowledged it was a “very hard thing to do”.

Hesaidtherewas“moretodo” and said the Executive was continuing to work on issues affecting care homes.

Mr Swann said he wasn’t intending to publish figures relating to individual care homes as he didn’t “want a league table being developed”.

Statistics for the number of care homes with Covid-19 outbreaks are published daily by the Department of Health on its online dashboard.

The Health Minister clarified that the ‘R’ number or rate of transmission per person in Northern Ireland did not include care home data.

The R number is used to judge the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak in Northern Ireland and impacts planning, including the easing of restrictions.

Mrswannsaidthatduetothe “lockdown nature” in care homes each care home would have its own R number.

He said while they remained in lockdown they weren’t taken into account in the wider R number.

Mr Swann said it would not be useful to publish the figure on a daily basis, but said he saw no reason not to publish it on a weekly basis.

On Sunday, at the Downing Street press conference, it was announced that the Northern Ireland figures could not be included.

Mr Swann said the statistics were unable to be published on Sunday due to a “severe malfunction”.

He said the issue had been worked on “through the night” and new data would be available on Monday.

The Department of Health’s online reporting tool has been beset with problems since its launch in April.