Workers working at nationwide Covid testing laboratories have been advised their contracts are set to finish with simply two weeks’ discover, The Unbiased has discovered.
The UK Well being Safety Company (UKHSA) advised labs throughout the nation working with saliva based mostly Covid testing that it’s withdrawing all funding for contracts from 1 April.
The laboratories working these assessments had been despatched letters final week informing them of the change, regardless of employees being advised in February the contracts would expire in June 2022.
It comes after The Unbiased reported employees working inside a Covid testing lab for an NHS belief had been knowledgeable their jobs had been in danger with only a few weeks’ discover. NHS-run “lighthouse labs” in Newcastle and Plymouth advised employees their jobs may very well be in danger from 1 April.
NHS laboratories working loop-mediated isothermal amplification, which permits individuals to hold out assessments by saliva samples with swabbing, had been warned earlier this 12 months that contracts had been up for assessment, as revealed by The Unbiased.
A number of NHS sources have stated the strategy of testing was geared toward use by NHS trusts, faculties and prisons however had not been taken up broadly sufficient.
Nevertheless, sources additionally advised The Unbiased a handful of NHS trusts had been hoping to proceed their contracts, with one belief not too long ago registering hundreds to make use of the testing service for the following few months.
Final week NHS England’s chief finance officer revealed the NHS had been advised by the federal government it must put a few of its core funding into Covid testing.
The information comes as free public testing for Covid is ready to finish this week after the NHS was advised it should use its personal core funding to proceed testing itself.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the Division of Well being and Social Care (DHSC) stated free testing for symptomatic sufferers in hospital might be offered the place a PCR check is required for his or her care and entry to remedies.
Free testing may even be offered to symptomatic individuals locally the place they require Covid remedies as a result of they’re at increased danger of changing into unwell. This group might be contacted straight and be despatched lateral circulation assessments.
Symptomatic individuals residing or working in high-risk settings reminiscent of care houses, NHS settings, hospices and prisons.
Asymptomatic testing will proceed in some “excessive danger” settings together with NHS and personal hospitals, hospices, care houses and care providers and in periods of excessive prevalence of Covid when an infection can unfold quickly.
Sajid Javid, the well being secretary, stated: “Vaccines stay our greatest defence and we at the moment are providing spring boosters to the aged, care residence residents and probably the most susceptible – please come ahead to guard your self, your loved ones, and your neighborhood.”
A UKHSA spokesperson stated: “All through the pandemic speedy asymptomatic testing has performed a significant function in stopping the unfold of Covid-19, serving to to establish instances that might in any other case have gone undetected.
“The overwhelming majority of asymptomatic testing is carried out utilizing Lateral Movement Gadgets [LFD], which have gone by rigorous validation, are confirmed to be extremely efficient at detecting Covid-19 in people who find themselves infectious and don’t require lab processing.
“As a part of the Dwelling with Covid technique, restricted asymptomatic testing will stay out there for these working in a small variety of at-risk settings. This testing might be offered by LFD and PCR testing. LAMP testing will not be used as a part of the nationwide testing programme.
“We have now communicated adjustments to LAMP testing companions as rapidly as attainable and thank them for every part they’ve carried out in the course of the pandemic.”
Kaynak: briturkish.com
