Covid Testing team celebrate ‘amazing’ success as service comes to an end
Our Covid Testing team celebrates two years of ‘amazing’ and ‘tireless’ work as the service has now come to an end.
The majority of team members have returned to their pre-pandemic roles and the remaining team now operates on a small scale, to offer PCR tests to colleagues.
The team was formed in the first months of the pandemic, in Easter 2020, to help our colleagues receive Covid-19 test results quickly so that they could continue to look after our patients.
The Covid Testing Team performed more than 150,000 swab tests for colleagues and the public in Norfolk.
“The team was made up of fixed-term contracts and bank workers who really have offered and given an excellent service,” said Tracy Benton, Deputy Operational Manager of the Covid-19 Testing team.
“The whole team has played such a vital role in the fight against Covid and has been instrumental in keeping the Trust operating as safely as possible with regards to elective PCR tests, staff and keyworkers testing and keeping the wider communities of Norfolk safe.
“During these months we became a big family and worked so well together.”
Our swab site has worked seven days a week, all year long (including on Christmas Day), conducting pre-operative swabbing for all elective patients and keyworkers as well as assisting the local CCG to deal with local outbreaks, like the one at Banham Poultry in Summer 2020.
The booking team at Centrum also worked non-stop for the last two years to organise tests for elective patients, key workers, hospital visitors and community teams.
The testing team also helped to keep colleagues and patients safe by processing more than 150,000 LAMP tests and were helped by our Microbiology colleagues.