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The testing site for key workers is now up and running in Bexhill. The new drive though test collection facility has opened at Wainwright Road Car Park.
The site will allow up to 100 key workers, such as doctors, nurses, social care staff, police and other critical key workers along with any of their household members, to be tested for Covid-19 every day. The tests are by appointment only, arranged by managers.
The Bexhill site is part of a Sussex-wide plan to increase testing. It is one of four drive-through sites we now have across Sussex, supported with vehicles to test staff at home if they’re unable to travel. The other sites are at Gatwick, Brighton's Amex Stadium, and in Bognor.
Key workers in the following groups are eligible for testing:
- An individual (adult or child) with COVID-19 symptoms (within 5-day onset symptoms) living in the same household as a member of NHS staff or wider NHS family who has gone off work within the last 3 days.
- A key worker who has COVID-19 symptoms.
The availability and prioritisation of spaces for key workers is being managed centrally by the Sussex Resilience Forum (SRF), and each organisation is managing requests and bookings for its workforce. Workers are being asked not to contact testing sites directly to request an appointment or turn up without a pre-booked appointment.
Earlier this week the Dept for Education (DfE) announced it is working in partnership with technology suppliers to provide:
- digital devices for some disadvantaged Year 10 pupils, care leavers and school children with social workers who do not already have them
- 4G dongles for some disadvantaged Year 10 pupils, care leavers and children in secondary school with social workers who do not have internet access
- support for schools to access online education platforms where teachers can set and collect work from pupils
- training on using remote education resources
- support from other schools and colleges who are already using these
We have welcomed the announcement and will work with our schools and social workers to swiftly identify pupils who are eligible to receive devices so they can be distributed quickly. We will be responsible for ordering equipment for eligible pupils - schools, parents and pupils will not be able to order the devices themselves. The DfE is expected to issue more guidance on how to access the equipment and how it should be distributed later this week.
GP practices across Sussex have transformed the way they work to ensure local patients remain safe and get the care they need during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the safety of patients and practice staff a priority, new measures have been introduced through the creation of dedicated sites and areas within some practices, for anyone with COVID-19 symptoms to be seen safely.
Those who feel they need GP appointments are being asked to contact their surgeries as normal, and not to arrive at the practice unless specifically being told to do so following an initial assessment by a suitably trained clinician.
Patients will be asked to give an accurate and detailed description of their symptoms and this will allow them to receive the most appropriate treatment.Patients may not be seen at their usual surgery, and following their assessment will be directed to a specific site locally to best deal with their health needs in the safest way, with local GPs changing the way they provide care.
Any patient with COVID-19 symptoms will be given an appointment at a so called ‘hot site’ rather than their own practice. These are formed by a group of practices coming together and identifying a single dedicated site to offer patients from their practices face-to-face consultation following their assessment.
Some GPs will be seeing patients without symptoms and patients with COVID-19 symptoms who will be separated into special zones, so that they are kept isolated from other patients. This will be undertaken in a safe way for patients and staff, and includes the introduction of dedicated hot consultation rooms, with separate entrances and exits to maintain isolation.
Existing GP premises will also be dedicated for treatment of those without any COVID-19 symptoms or acute illness, to allow their management in a way that minimises risk of contact with any potentially ill patients.
The latest published figures show there are now 457 cases of coronavirus in East Sussex confirmed by Public Health England. Initial testing was mainly confined to those symptomatic in hospitals, but the figures will now begin to reflect positive cases resulting from swab testing of key workers.
(For information: Across the UK there are now 129,044 confirmed cases.There are 2,597 in Kent, 2,100 in Surrey, 895 in West Sussex, 319 in Brighton & Hove)
Full NHS advice
A reminder that there is now a web page on the East Sussex Council Council website that brings together a range of information and advice regarding the coronavirus.
Visit: Coronavirus - help and support
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