Regular retesting rolled out for care home staff and residents

Staff will be tested for coronavirus weekly, while residents will receive a test every 28 days to prevent the spread of coronavirus in social care. This is in addition to intensive testing in any care home facing an outbreak, or at increased risk of an outbreak.

The new testing strategy comes following the latest advice from SAGE and new evidence from the Vivaldi 1 study indicating a higher prevalence in care homes, and therefore a case for frequent testing in care homes and their staff.

The Vivaldi 1 study, which surveyed almost 9,000 care home managers and analyzed data from whole care home testing, identified the higher levels of the virus among care staff, particularly among temporary staff who work in multiple care settings. The study suggests that care home staff may be at increased risk of contracting the virus, which they may then pass on to others if they have no symptoms.

Over the following 4 weeks, retesting will have been rolled out to all care homes for over 65s and those with dementia who have registered to receive retesting. Repeat testing will be extended to include all care homes for working-age adults in August.

We will work with local directors of public health to deliver an initial round of asymptomatic whole-home testing for staff and residents at the extra care housing and supported living settings at most clinical risk. The operational details of rolling out this testing to this sector are being worked through and more details will be provided shortly.

In May, the government launched a Care Home Support Package, backed by the £600 million Infection Control Fund, to minimize risks in care homes by limiting the movement of staff.

David Pearson CBE, Chair of the Adult Social Care Support Taskforce has written to care, providers, this week outlining the importance of reducing movement between care homes, making the best use of the Infection Control Fund.