A Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) for key workers and members of their household will be available in North East Lincolnshire this week. The MTU will be available for three days this week at the Duchess Street Car Park in Grimsby.
The site will be open at the following times, for people with booked appointments only:
Tues 28 April 1200 – 1400
Wed 29 April 1100 – 1500
Thurs 30 April 1100 – 1500
The mobile site is not open to the general public, but has been established in conjunction with the Humber Bridge Regional Testing Centre for key workers who are self-isolating because they or a household member has Covid-19 symptoms. A negative test will help enable staff to return to work much quicker, whilst a positive test will mean that the individual and their employer can take steps to reduce the chances of further spread of the virus.
Over the coming weeks, the mobile unit will provide access to testing for key workers in other areas in the Humber region. Exact sites and dates will be released in due course.
The testing service has now been extended beyond the priority areas in Health and Social Care to all key workers including those working on COMAH sites or those in pharmaceuticals, schools, food production, transport, supermarkets and delivery staff (full list is on the gov.uk website). These workers can be put forward for testing by their employer if they have those arrangements in place, but can now also book it themselves by using the self-referral route below:
https://self-referral.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/
Chair of the Humber Local Resilience Forum Chris Blacksell welcomed the new Mobile Testing Unit in Grimsby:
"The Regional Testing Centre at the Humber Bridge has been very well attended and I thank those individuals and employers who have booked their places online and been patient when arriving on site.
"The addition of this mobile site in Grimsby will further increase the numbers tested each day in our region and give health partners and employers a much clearer picture of the local levels of confirmed cases.
"We would naturally expect the number of positive cases of coronavirus reported in the Humber region to increase sharply this week as the results come back through the system. This should not alarm anyone, it will simply allow the NHS to be better informed and prepare their staffing and resources accordingly."
List of Key Workers
Through the Government’s national testing programme, Covid-19 testing is being offered to the following categories of people:
All NHS and social care staff, including hospital, community and primary care, relevant staff providing support to frontline NHS services, and voluntary workers.
Examples include:
- clinicians
- nurses
- GPs
- staff in community pharmacy
- healthcare assistants
- those providing hotel accommodation for NHS staff
Police, fire and rescue services, including the National Crime Agency, security agencies, MOD police and the British Transport Police
Local authority staff, including those working with vulnerable children and adults, with victims of domestic abuse, and with the homeless and rough sleepers.
Examples include:
- adult and children’s social care workers and services
- all frontline local authority staff
- staff and voluntary workers in residential care settings for vulnerable children and young people including residential special schools, respite provision and residential special post-16 institutions for young people
- staff providing home care support to children and young people with special needs
- child, youth and family social caseworkers
- voluntary sector organisations providing substance misuse treatment and domestic abuse support
- public and environmental health staff, including inspectors
Defence, prisons, probation and judiciary staff.
Examples include:
- defence personnel and the COVID Support Force
- staff in prisons (adult and youth) and Approved Premises
- probation staff
- judiciary
- operational HM Courts and Tribunal Service staff
Frontline benefits workers
Other frontline workers as determined by local or national need.
Examples include:
- medical supply chain and distribution workers (including veterinary medicine)
- testing infrastructure workers (such as laboratories)
- workers in the funeral industry and coroners
- frontline Home Office and Border Force staff
- Maritime and Coastguard Agency staff
- critical personnel in the continuity of energy, utilities and waste networks
- critical personnel in food and drink production
- workers critical to the continuity of essential travel and movement of goods (including the port sector)