The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Temperatures being screened in trials at Ninewells Hospital
People attending appointments as outpatients will be checked on entering the building to help prevent spread of Covid-19
Thousands of patients attending outpatient appointments at Tayside’s biggest hospital will have their temperatures tested upon entering the building.
Thermal technology will be used to test outpatients at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee as part of efforts to stop coronavirus spreading.
Routine visits have been suspended during the pandemic but around 350 patients are still attending for urgent appointments, including cancer treatments.
Two machines are being trialled at the hospital’s main entrance – a walkthrough body scanner and a camera which measures temperature from skin on the face.
Anyone who uses the entrance, including staff, will be tested in a bid to stop people with a high temperature, one of the most common coronavirus symptoms, from spreading the virus.
Professor Colin Fleming, operational medical director at NHS Tayside, said: “It is part of a number of measures to raise awareness of symptoms of Covid-19 disease.
“To make the hospital as safe as possible, we are asking if they have a temperature or cough. We are just testing it at the moment to see if it will be useful. It’s an additional check on top of what we already do.
“If they have a temperature we will have a chat with them and ask them to follow the advice surrounding symptoms.
“It is in no way harmful to the person, it simply picks up the warmth the body naturally creates – 99 of people out of 100 could walk through with no symptoms but it can flag up people with potential symptoms.”
The normal body temperature is around 37 degrees but a fever seen in coronavirus patients can reach 39 degrees.
The camera being tested is connected to a screen, which will change colour if the person has a high temperature and the scanner will sound to alert a fever’s presence. The equipment has been donated by Securigroup, which has been creating the contact-free temperature testers using thermal technology. They are being used in distribution centres, factories and offices to prevent the risk of coronavirus spreading.
Similar scanners have been trialled at Manchester Airport.
Prof Fleming added: “We have had lots of generous donations and we are really grateful for all of them.
“We are looking at the donations we have been given and offered to see what is going to be useful to raise awareness and reduce the risk of spreading.
“It is too early to say if it is working (to stop spreading) but it will definitely help to raise awareness because it helps make patients and staff members aware of how important it is that they don’t come to the hospital with a temperature.”