On-the-spot testing starts at Princess Yachts
THE UK’s largest luxury boat maker, Princess Yachts, has begun a Government-backed on-the-spot Covid-19 testing programme for its staff.
The company, which employs about 3,000 workers in Plymouth, has launched its rapid testing programme in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care. The project is part of the Government’s continuing UK-wide drive to increase the availability of testing.
Princess Yachts received its first batch of lateral flow tests, provided by NHS Test and Trace, in the second full week of February, as part of a programme to enable testing in private industries. It has now begun testing staff, under medical supervision, at its site in Coypool, with the aim of extending it to its other Plymouth sites.
Lateral flow tests are easy-to-use swab tests that provide a coronavirus test result within 30 minutes, without needing lab analysis. The Government sees them as a fast and simple way to test people who do not have symptoms of Covid-19 but who may be carrying the virus and in danger of spreading it.
Matthew Clark, director of health, safety and environment at Princess Yachts, said: “At Princess Yachts, there have been very clear safety protocols in place since Spring, 2020, that require all staff to adhere to PPE wearing, social distancing, following one-way systems, hand-washing and sanitising.
“Princess have invested an enormous amount of time, effort and money into putting these protocols in place so that employees are kept safe in a work environment that’s as Covid-19 secure as possible. “Utilising new technologies, such as rapid lateral flow tests, at Princess will add to maintaining a safe environment for our employees, whilst, at the same time, be key in aiding the Government’s overall plans to roll out rapid testing nationwide. This testing programme will allow testing large numbers of people in a short period of time, with test results made available quickly, even on the spot.”
Health Minister Lord Bethell said: “We’ve already come so far since first setting up a national testing programme at an unprecedented pace to help counter Covid-19, but we continue to strive to go further, faster. Rapid testing technologies hold the key to the next phase of our ambition to see testing available to people across the country.
“I’m delighted that Princess Yachts are working with us to use the latest technology, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour, both in helping target the virus locally, and helping find ways to roll this technology out further soon .”
Baroness Dido Harding, interim executive chair of the National Institute for Health Protection, said: “The innovation and evolution of NHS Test and Trace continues to improve our detection of positive cases and I am incredibly proud of the speed at which we have been able to roll out these initiatives to protect more people more quickly.
“This is a national effort and a partnership of public and private sectors is instrumental in our response to this virus.
“Around one in three people with Covid-19 don’t display symptoms, meaning you can infect others unknowingly,” she added.
“This rapid testing programme with Princess Yachts is one of many that will inform our understanding of how rapid asymptomatic testing can be operationalised in the real world to protect those at high risk, find the virus and help us go back to as normal a way of life as possible.”