Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
A hospital trust in
England has begun testing every single patient for coronavirus, even if they don’t show symptoms, HuffPost
UK can reveal.
It comes as the government faces the steep challenge of trebling its daily testing figures by Thursday to hit the 100,000-a-day target set by Matt Hancock at the start of April.
The NHS trust, in London, has told staff that from Monday they should be “swabbing” every category of in-patient, including those who are admitted via A&E.
All pregnant
Women will be swabbed on arrival, and once they have given birth their babies will be swabbed too.
One government source told HuffPost the plan was to roll out the practice at other hospitals, at least for A&E departments at first.
“Giving the increasing capacity, we are able to take necessary action to widen eligibility and make sure the people who need tests most can have one,” they said.
“And testing all admissions for
Coronavirus is an effective way of [practising] infection control.”
One added benefit could be that more of the public are encouraged to turn up to accident and emergency units with the reassurance of being tested. At present, A&E admissions are severely down on normal levels, and there are concerns people may be too scared to turn up to hospital even if they have serious conditions that need treatment.
The new policy of swabbing patients even if they appear well could also be part of a fresh bid by the government to ramp up the number of tests conducted to meet health secretary Matt Hancock’s 100,00-a-day target by the end of April. Public Health England (PHE) referred us to NHS England for comment, and NHS England in turn directed us to the Department for Health and Social Care.
A note to staff at the
London trust, dated April 27, sets out how “from today ALL patients admitted to the hospital are to be swabbed for Covid-19 regardless of whether they are symptomatic or not”.
All patients, both adults and children, admitted via the A&E will be swabbed in the emergency department.
All transfers from other hospitals or those admitted directly to wards will be swabbed on arrival, including children of all ages.
Hancock four weeks ago set the ambitious target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April, and has just days left to meet it.
Just under 30,000 tests were conducted on Sunday, with the capacity of PHE and other labs standing at more than 51,000 per day.
Although some in government are confident that extra private sector lab capacity will mean the target can be hit in theory, there is a big push to ensure 100,000 people per day are actually swabbed.
Health minister Edward Argar said on Monday: “I am confident we will achieve that target”. Hancock is due to give an update on testing at the daily No.10 press conference.
Among the moves to increase the rate are more mobile labs, more drive-through centres for key workers and a new website that allows the public to request tests they can conduct themselves at home.
Massively increased testing would pave the way for a “test, track and trace” strategy – used successfully in countries like
South Korea – to keep coronavirus suppressed once the government is sure that its lockdown has done enough to prevent a second wave of the disease.
On his first day back in Downing Street after recovering from the virus,
Boris Johnson said that the UK was now “beginning the turn the tide” but warned that lifting stay-at-home restrictions too early could prompt a “new wave of death”.
The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment.Related... Eight Things You Need To Know About Coronavirus Today 350 More Coronavirus Deaths Recorded In England,
Scotland And Wales In 24 Hours Doctors Are Seeing More Children With Severe Covid-19 Symptoms