Trusts working well to increase staff testing

03 April 2020

Trusts are innovating and developing new partnerships to boost staff testing for coronavirus.

Earlier this week NHS Providers highlighted the way trusts are ramping up their testing capacity, despite significant constraints on swabs, reagents and test kits.

This included the work of Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, as part of a national pilot scheme to set up a staff testing station.

In a further example, three NHS trusts (Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust; East Kent Hospitals Universities Foundation Trust, and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust) have rapidly increased the number of staff tested for coronavirus by creating a new lab at Dartford, massively upscaling the labs at East Kent and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells, and collaborating with academic and commercial partners.

Three weeks ago, the lab at Maidstone Hospital had no coronavirus testing capacity. Now they process 216 tests a day, with a 24 hour turnaround for results. Once more equipment arrives next week and the Maidstone Hospital lab moves to 24/7 working, they will process 750 tests a day and aim to ramp this up to 1,500 tests a day by mid-April.

On 1 April, 27% of the total COVID-19 tests performed at Maidstone Hospital that day were on staff from across health and care settings in Kent. This proportion should increase further as a staff swabbing centre opens this weekend. The trusts aim to test all staff off sick within the next few weeks.

This is an incredible achievement, driven by the outstanding collaboration between trusts, universities and commercial partners who are lending specialist staff and equipment to increase testing capacity. The trusts are also working closely with suppliers of swabs and test kits to keep up with demand. If they have spare capacity and sufficient stock, they hope to assist other pathology networks across the country.


Miles Scott, Chair of the Kent & Medway Pathology Network and Chief Executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said:

"NHS laboratories across Kent and Medway have collaborated to quickly ramp up facilities to put in place measures to increase the number of tests on staff that can be processed. As a region we’ve gone from nothing to potentially handling over 1,500 tests a day in a matter of just a few weeks.

"This is an outstanding achievement and is down to fantastic partnership working between trusts, universities and research centres in Kent; a positive, can-do attitude from pathology staff; and introducing innovation to adapt quickly to demand.

"As a result of working together we’ll quickly be able to identify those who can return to work on the frontline or who need to remain in self-isolation. This will enable trusts to continue providing specialist care and support to those patients who need help the most.”

 

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said:

"It's clear from our daily dialogue with trust leaders just how important it is to scale up staff testing.

"This example from Kent exemplifies how trusts are taking a collaborative approach to find solutions.

"It also demonstrates the value of working with partners outside the NHS to expand testing, and so help get staff back to work at this crucial time."