Covid-19: No one obliged to travel more than one hour for test

No one will have to travel more than one hour for a Covid-19 test, under a revamp of the service as part of the Government’s new framework for managing the virus.

Swabbing centres will be provided in each county and will operate seven days a week, many of them for 12 hours a day, under the plan.

The document promises to introduce a “more accessible and sustainable” testing service to meet the demands of people into the winter. Improvements aimed at providing a “more consistent service” will be implemented in the days, weeks and months to come.

As previously flagged, a dedicated testing workforce is being created through the recruitment of more than 700 people to take swabs and 500 to carry out contact tracing. Ultimately, 3,000 people will work in testing and tracing.

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In addition to 30 test centres, six pop-up services will be provided along with a number of dedicated contact tracing centres and administrative accommodation. The use of “leading edge processes and technology” is promised to support the service, which will cater for people with symptoms in the community, close contacts, vulnerable populations, outbreaks, serial testing and hospital testing.

No performance targets are included in the plan, though “efficient turnaround times” in line with international standards are promised.

According to the latest Health Service Executive figures, almost half of referrals to appointments are turned around in under 24 hours, but 9.2 per cent take over two days.

It takes an average of 28.8 hours from a swab being taken in the community to the result. The average time to complete contact tracing is 1.4 days and each case generates an average of seven contacts that have to be traced.