Forum Central urgently seeking clarity on behalf of our members about Lateral Flow Tests and PPE for Third Sector organisations in Leeds
As you will be aware Forum Central has been working to ensure parity of access to PPE and business contingency later flow tests througout the pandemic for Third Sector workers and organisations
Following the Government’s press release late on 29th March (see below), Forum Central raised concerns about both lateral flow test and PPE availability at the Citywide Silver meeting on 30th March. Further Government guidance is expected on April 1st.
Headlines
There is currently no clarity on the availability of Lateral Flow Tests (LFT’s) for Third Sector Health and Social Care organisations. Forum Central are urgently liaising with partners in Leeds Community Healthcare and Local Government to again information about access to LFT’s for our member organisations staff and clients as this is raising concerns about safety and cost, especially for smaller organisations. The potential need for support to low income carers, if having to pay for lateral flow tests in order to visit family/friends in care homes, was also raised.
Regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) there is better news… there is a new NHS portal where ‘eligible primary care, social care, and public sector organisations’ can register and order this equipment, free of charge. Link here Login (nhs-ppe.co.uk)
To the best of our knowledge this eligibility includes many Third Sector organisations, as we know that at least two of our members have successfully registered with the portal and one reports receiving PPE within 3 days.
Watch this space
Forum central will continue to raise these issues to ensure that we get on-going parity of access as a sector, and really welcome feedback from our members and specific examples of the challenges you are facing.
At the Citywide meeting it was agreed that more time is needed to reflect on and digest the new guidance and look at system requirements before seeing what mutual aid might be available to the third sector, so we will have to wait until the first week in April when a fuller discussion should be possible.
Forum Central will update this website link with any developments as they come in.
The Government press release details plans for ending of general availability of free Lateral flow tests (April 1st)
Government sets out next steps for living with COVID – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Government press release promises updated guidance by the 1st of April but the key area of clarity in the press release is around the availability of asymptomatic testing (Lateral flow tests) it states:
…Asymptomatic lateral flow testing will continue from April in some high-risk settings where infection can spread rapidly while prevalence is high. This includes patient-facing staff in the NHS and NHS-commissioned Independent Healthcare Providers, staff in hospices and adult social care services, such as homecare organisations and care homes, a small number of care home visitors who provide personal care, staff in some prisons and places of detention and in high-risk domestic abuse refuges and homelessness settings. In addition, testing will be provided for residential SEND, care home staff and residents during an outbreak and for care home residents upon admission. This also includes some staff in prisons and immigration removal centres.
The shift is to only focussing on very vulnerable people in certain settings. We will update as we receive further guidance and of course our statutory colleagues are working through it, but headlines below.
Asymptomatic lateral flow testing will continue from April in some high-risk settings where infection can spread rapidly while prevalence is high. This includes patient-facing staff in the NHS and NHS-commissioned Independent Healthcare Providers, staff in hospices and adult social care services, such as homecare organisations and care homes, a small number of care home visitors who provide personal care, staff in some prisons and places of detention and in high risk domestic abuse refuges and homelessness settings. In addition, testing will be provided for residential SEND, care home staff and residents during an outbreak and for care home residents upon admission. This also includes some staff in prisons and immigration removal centres.
Supplies of lateral flows will be in demand as they will be required for:
– Patients in hospital to provide access to treatments and to support ongoing clinical surveillance for new variants
– People who are eligible for community COVID-19 treatments because they are at higher risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19. People in this group will be contacted directly and sent lateral flow tests to keep at home for use if they have symptoms as well as being told how to reorder tests
Most visitors to adult social care settings, and visitors to the NHS, prisons or places of detention will no longer be required to take a test. More guidance on what people should do when visiting adult social care settings will be published by 1 April.
