Sex clinic transformed for vital testing

NHS Lothian has transformed one of its health centres into a mass drive-through staff COVID-19 testing centre.

Every day, scores of NHS Lothian staff are being tested in their cars at the Chalmers Sexual Health Centre in Edinburgh, in a bid to reduce unnecessary absence and bolster frontline services.

To date, 670 staff, including doctors and nurses and their household contacts, have attended appointments at the testing station to be swabbed for the virus.

If they have symptoms and are tested within the first 72 hours, a negative result, can end family or self-isolation and allow a return to work if they are well. This is even more valuable to staff who are self-isolating for 14 days because of household contacts who may have symptoms.

Dr Tracey Gillies, Medical Director, NHS Lothian, said up to 160 staff have been tested in a day and of those around 86 per cent had already tested negative for COVID-19.

She added: “Providing access to staff testing is critical. It not only gives our colleagues reassurance, but enables staff, if they feel well enough, to return to work.

“Across NHS Lothian, we have seen fantastic cooperation, flexibility and willingness from all our teams, and this staff testing facility really does encapsulate that. Every single member of staff is doing their bit and for that, I would like to say a huge thank you.”

Regular services at Chalmers have been greatly reduced over recent days and weeks, and as a result, has meant that the centre had quiet areas, with many members of staff who could be re-deployed into different roles.

A massive operation swung into force and the area was quickly transformed into a mass testing centre, with a team of dedicated and expert staff, capable of carrying out hundreds of tests every week and returning results by text message within 48 hours.

Dr Alastair Leckie, Director of Occupational Health Services, NHS Lothian, said the teams drew on the experience and expertise gained from drive-through patient testing which was created out of the Regional Infectious Diseases Unit at the Western General Hospital during the early days of the pandemic.

He said: “The experience we gained from our drive-through patient testing has been invaluable. It helped us to know what was needed to run the service, but crucially how we could make it bigger.

“Our staff have told us time and time again that they want to be at work, helping patients and supporting colleagues. Testing provides reassurance for staff, helping to get them back to work quicker, and reducing unnecessary periods of self-isolation.

“A monumental amount of work has taken place in a very short period of time to provide this service and we are incredibly pleased and proud to see it working. Already we are looking at how we can roll this model out to other locations.”

Staff are told to report symptoms as soon as they first appear and are given an appointment at the testing centre within 72 hours.

They drive to the testing centre in the city centre and follow the signs into the facility, which is based in the car park.

They are called forward in turn and a member of the team, in protective clothing, approaches their car. A mouth swab is taken and the staff member is told to drive home.

Dr Dan Clutterbuck, Consultant in Sexual Health Medicine, NHS Lothian, said: “The Sexual Health team are well used to carrying out high volume testing, and I am delighted that we could use these skills, experience and expertise to scale up our staff testing service.

“The model we have developed here is easily replicated, and our team are working with others across the organisation to enable this to happen.”