The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched an online portal for care homes in England to arrange the supply of Covid-19 testing kits.
All symptomatic and asymptomatic care home staff and residents in England are now eligible for testing and the kits can be applied for regardless of whether they have coronavirus symptoms.
Testing will be prioritised for care homes that look after the over 65s.
Test results for residents will be communicated to the care home managers.
The information will also be provided to councils to help manage coronavirus outbreaks in local areas.
DHSC said it is working with local authority Directors of Public Health, Directors of Adult Social Services and local NHS providers to deliver the testing programme for care homes.
The testing programme is for England only and supplements the local systems already in place.
“We are working with the devolved administrations to support their needs around adult social care testing,” DHSC said.
Detailed guidance has been produced for care home managers with a tutorial video is available to guide staff through the swab collection process presented by Dr Sarah Jarvis.
“This new portal allows those who book tests for staff and residents to do so even more easily, and it also offers a route for the prioritisation of care homes with the greatest need,” said DHSC Secretary Matt Hancock.
“The additional testing capacity we have achieved delivers many thousands of tests a day for residents and staff in care homes,” he added.
DHSC meanwhile advised are care worker staff who are self-isolating, either because they or a member of their household has symptoms, to continue to use the self-referral website to book a home test or an appointment at a test site.
Domiciliary care staff who need a test should also continue to use the self-referral website to request a home test or book an appointment at a test site.
