Home trials rapid Covid test

RAPID response Covid-19 tests are being trialled by St Ronan’s Care Home in Dundee in a bid to get closer to accepting visitors.

The nasal anti-gen LFD swab tests, which were developed by the Test Assurance Group (TAG), take place onsite and results are received within 30 minutes.

The move by Balhousie Care Group comes after months of reported problems with mass weekly staff testing.

Chief executive Jill Kerr said government test results were often delayed by up to seven days, with hundreds of staff results never returned.

She added: “We were told that a move to using NHS labs to process results would improve things but every week up to a third of our staff are still waiting on results five days after their weekly test is done.

“This puts our residents and our staff at an unacceptable risk of exposure to staff members who may be Covid positive but not showing symptoms.”

Balhousie said the trial was being run in parallel with regular staff mass testing but would enable them to quickly identify staff members who were asymptomatic and remove them from the home.

Jill said: “What we would like now is for Scottish Government to closely consider our results, and for rapid response LFDs to be the primary mode of testing for care home staff.”

The news comes on the eve of a rollout by the Scottish Government of LFDs to all care homes for visitor testing, starting on Monday.

Jill added: “We’re delighted about the news of the Scottish Government’s rapid response testing for visitors, which means in-home care visits can take place with this extra measure of assurance.

“However, when it comes to staff testing there are still ongoing issues which we felt needed addressed quickly.”