Plea for help at virus testing lab
WITH the Omicron Covid-19 variant causing a huge surge in demand for PCR testing, the NHS team which runs the Lighthouse Lab in Gateshead has made an urgent plea for large employers to send staff to help with the workload.
The Baltic Park lab is “the busiest its ever been” and while a recruitment drive is under way, the team needs more bodies faster than it can hire new staff – and it has asked large firms in the North East to help it through January.
Martin Wilson, managing director of the Integrated Covid Hub North East – which is run under the auspices of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust – told ChronicleLive: “We accept it’s a really big ask, but basically the reason we are asking for the region’s large employers to send their staff is about helping us through an incredibly busy time while we work to recruit on a longerterm basis.”
Martin, who is also the NHS Trust’s chief operating officer, added that so far there had been some expressions of interest.
“We are grateful that a few have come forward already,” he said. “And we are hopeful that a few more will. The roles that we are looking for are to assist and work alongside our senior scientists. These roles will see people helping to prepare samples.”
He said that on Wednesday alone, the lab had processed 52,000 Covid19 samples, and with Omicron surging, demand for tests is likely to follow.
One of three strands of ICHNE – along with the Co-ordination and Response Centre and the Innovation Lab in Newcastle – the Lighthouse Lab is one of five in the country able to detect “S-gene target failure”, which is a likely indicator of a positive Covid-19 sample being Omicron. Martin added: “We are busier than we have ever been in terms of the level of demand and we do expect that is only going to increase.”
In a post on the Newcastle Hospitals NHS website, the plea is explained further.
Bosses wrote: “Staff at the lab play a vital role in unpacking, logging, preparing and analysing Covid samples, which arrive at our facility from across the region and beyond. We’re asking local large employers to help us out, particularly through January 2022, by considering whether any of your workforce could be seconded with immediate effect to work at the lab for a few weeks.”
No specific qualifications are required, and anyone helping would be fully trained and supervised by expert scientists.
To offer help, employers can email nuth.ichne@nhs.net. To find out more about the jobs visit jobs.nhs. uk.