- Rapid Covid-19 Testing
- NHS Covid Heroes
Rapid Covid-19 tests (2 hour turnaround)
Rapid Covid-19 tests should be used for the following patients criteria ONLY:
- Pre-operative patients prior to urgent elective cancer surgery on the day of admission: note that the laboratory receives a list of such patients requiring rapid tests daily from the Surgical Care Group. Only samples from patients on that list will be processed by the rapid test.
- Extremely vulnerable patients under shielding who attend for elective surgery/procedures on the day of admission: please inform the laboratory on ext. 1837 prior to sending the sample that this is a rapid test request for a shielded patient attending for a procedure.
These can be requested on Medway under COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus PCR using the drop down ‘Elective pre-op URGENT’.
There is a drop down box to select the test required as shown below:
Any tests that are requested as ‘Elective pre-op URGENT’ but do not fulfill the criteria above will be processed as routine (turnaround time for results is within 24 hours from receipt).
Note that current availability of rapid tests is strictly limited (approximately 20 in total per day) hence these MUST only be used as stated above: Any exceptions MUST be discussed with a Medical Microbiologist on a case by case basis before the test is requested.
All COVID PCR testing is now performed on site at the Whiston Microbiology Laboratory hence results for non-rapid PCR tests are available within 24 hours of receipt of sampling in the laboratory.
Further guidance on testing are available at https://covid.sthk.nhs.uk/current-case-definition-and-assessment-flow-chart/
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NHS Covid Heroes
The teamwork on Ward 2D has been exceptional right throughout the pandemic.
To assist with patient flow across the Trust, the ward has changed specialty on a number of occasions, and they became a cohort ward caring for covid positive patients for over 5 weeks.
Feedback from those they have cared for during this time has been nothing short of inspiring, they have certainly earned their hero status.
