Government ends routine Covid-19 testing across health and social care settings

Routine Covid-19 testing has ended for most staff and patients in England.

Under the new measures, symptomatic and asymptomatic Covid-19 testing will no longer be available for staff and patients in health and care settings minus some exceptions.

Testing will continue for people in the community and residents in care settings if they have symptoms and are in a vulnerable group that is eligible for Covid-19 treatment, to speed up access to treatment.

If an outbreak is suspected, the provider should inform the health protection team (HPT). However, they are not required to wait for advice from the HPT (or other relevant local partner) if they feel they are able to initiate the risk assessment independently. Further support will be available from the local HPT (or other local partner according to local protocols) at the care home’s request.

Only the first 5 residents with symptoms of a respiratory infection will be asked to take an LFD test to identify if there is an outbreak of COVID-19. This is in addition to ongoing testing for symptomatic individuals eligible for COVID-19 treatments.

Please see here for further information: COVID-19: testing from 1 April 2023 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)