Pioneering hub marks one year of crucial tests

A pioneering testing programme in Tayside, which was hailed as an “exemplar” by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has marked its first anniversary by clocking up more than 34,000 crucial Covid checks for key workers and their households.

NHS Tayside was the first health board in Scotland to begin testing symptomatic health and social care staff.

Launched in March 2020, days before lockdown, the Covid-19 Testing Team started assessing frontline workers at a drive-through facility.

The first wave included GPS, health and social care partnership staff, community and hospital pharmacists and other hospital workers, as well as any symptomatic household contacts.

The service was then expanded to other key workers, including police, ambulance crews and firefighters, as well as local authority education staff who were supporting key workers’ children.

The testing programme meant that where a staff member or their household contact were found to be negative, the staff member could return to work, while those testing positive could appropriately self-isolate.

The Covid-19 Testing Team responded to new and emerging challenges, including obtaining swabs from residents in care homes and supporting Covid-19 testing for patients prior to hospital admission.

Activity for the Covid-19 Testing Team peaked on November 17, when the team obtained 321 swabs.

NHS Tayside associate nurse director Kathryn Brechin said: “Having a dedicated testing team has enabled Tayside to be responsive to changing Covid-19 testing needs and priorities for our patients, public and staff.

“The success of the hub has been a true collaborative effort, from our estates and support staff who built the hub to the testing team itself, the virology lab processing all the results and the team who are relaying the results to staff and their families.”