Primary Care Support England (PCSE) will send the last emails to pharmacies today inviting them to order lateral flow testing devices for staff use.

Contractors need to place an order by Wednesday (30th December 2020).

COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic pharmacy staff

Following the Government announcement on 9th November that lateral flow testing would be made available to all asymptomatic patient-facing NHS staff, NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) published a letter to all primary care contractors on 16th December 2020, announcing how they can order lateral flow tests.

The supply of these tests will allow all patient-facing staff to be able to test, twice-weekly, using self-administered nasal swabbing and report their results through an online platform.  Any positive lateral flow antigen tests will need to be followed up by a confirmatory PCR test.

The aim is to improve virus detection in primary care thereby helping to protect staff, reduce transmission and improve the resilience of services.

The letter from NHSE&I confirms arrangements for the roll-out, including further information on how to order and receive deliveries of lateral flow antigen testing kits for staff. A dedicated standard operating procedure (SOP) for primary care has also been published.

Ordering process

• Primary Care Support England (PCSE) is sending invitations to contractors, via emails to their shared NHSmail accounts, to order lateral flow testing devices (the last emails will be sent on 24th December 2020).
• Invitations were staggered across the NHSE&I regions to ensure a smooth ordering process.
• Following receipt of an invitation, contractors should log on to the PCSE online portal and complete their orders. Contractors have until Wednesday 30th December 2020 to place their orders.
• Contractors will be able to order one box for every patient-facing employee who is providing NHS services, including any temporary staff (e.g. locums).
• Test kits are expected to be delivered from early January 2021.
• Contractors should provide one box to each member of patient-facing staff as soon as possible after delivery. Each box will contain 25 lateral flow tests, enough for 12 weeks.

Staff engagement & training

• Contractors should read through the standard operating procedures (SOPs) on lateral flow antigen testing in primary care.
• An NHS staff instruction leaflet and a Health Education England instruction video to support both staff training on self-administration of their test and interpretation of results is available. Contractors are advised to provide their employees access to these alongside any applicable information having familiarised themselves with both the leaflet and SOP.
• Patient-facing primary care staff are asked to test themselves twice weekly and report their results to Public Health England (PHE) within 24 hours, via the NHS Digital online platform. Please be aware that it is a statutory requirement to report all results, including negative, positive or invalid.
• Anyone who tests positive with a lateral flow antigen test will be required to follow Government guidelines, self-isolate with their household and get a confirmatory PCR test.

Contractors should already have access to the PCSE online portal, which is normally used to order supplies such as EPS dispensing tokens, FP57s etc. However, if any contractor does not have access, they should contact PCSE at www.pcse.england.nhs.uk/contact-us.

Read the full NHSE&I letter, SOP, FAQs and staff leaflet

Advice on COVID-19 testing and the application to community pharmacy