Help needed from someone setting up a testing centre in a school

[GinandGobbledegook]

We've had our kits. We know what a testing space should look like and what staff are needed.

I cannot find any instructions on processing the test and recording the results. Am I being stupid?

I wouldn’t bother personally. Boris will say the schools are shut tonight and then our Y11’s will be totally fucked like last time.

Schools won't be shut for vulnerable children so I still need to set up the testing but the guidance is sketchy (no surprise there )

Can you phone one of those army people that are supposed to be advising?

DfE webinar at 10am tomorrow!

There are none anywhere yet. I've done quite a lot of their webinars hoping for clarification, but still waiting.

Well, I was hoping that schools wouldn't have to ask for testing advice on mumsnet!

Been working on this all day; guidance is so poor. Couldn't get onto the webinars today. Oh well, tomorrow is another day .....

You can find the instruction manual online:

Such as www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Lateral-Flow-Test-Instructions-Pamphlet.pdf

We were sent a link with an access token which gave us access to part of the NHS training website.

The outcome of the test is checked and written on the LFD in sharpie and then the barcode scanned and result uploaded to the T&T app.

There’s a webinar tomorrow and you also need to do the online Tesselo training from NHS test and trace.

Do you think advice will change from tonight?

Although that only relates to the tests themselves, not what you do with the results.
Since NHS staff have been self-testing for a few weeks now there is quite a lot of information online about the tests and the results etc.
But for the school-specific stuff - sounds like you'll have to wait for DfE further instructions.

I did the webinars today, they were sent to us by our deputy head?

If you look at the resource sharing platform there is an operational guide that sets it out. I think its called the green guide, but it starts on page 25.

Thanks everyone. I'm glad it's not just me who has struggled!

I definitely think it will change. On the webinar this afternoon the guy just dropped in that lateral flow tests only pick up 50% of PCR positives and 80% of “the most infectious cases”. They then studiously ignored any questions about whether that was an adequate replacement for isolation of close contacts. Bearing in mind they started by saying that the tests were 99.93% accurate and then clarified that this was because only 0.6% of positives were false positives I was a bit . Apparently missing positive cases is not a problem of accuracy but just sensitivity. I’m not sure now is the time to be dicking about playing semantics.
The serial testing for close contacts is a bonkers idea and I don’t think it can possibly happen now. It may all end up being totally irrelevant if they close schools.

My school won't close (AP). I'll be testing...

Bearing in mind they started by saying that the tests were 99.93% accurate and then clarified that this was because only 0.6% of positives were false positives I was a bit hmm.
We were shouting at the screen at that point.
We've got our bays set up with our enemy's bowls and mirrors. What could possibly go wrong?!

Enemys??
Emesis.

@MadameMinimes

I definitely think it will change. On the webinar this afternoon the guy just dropped in that lateral flow tests only pick up 50% of PCR positives and 80% of “the most infectious cases”. They then studiously ignored any questions about whether that was an adequate replacement for isolation of close contacts. Bearing in mind they started by saying that the tests were 99.93% accurate and then clarified that this was because only 0.6% of positives were false positives I was a bit . Apparently missing positive cases is not a problem of accuracy but just sensitivity. I’m not sure now is the time to be dicking about playing semantics. The serial testing for close contacts is a bonkers idea and I don’t think it can possibly happen now. It may all end up being totally irrelevant if they close schools.

Absolute madness

My school just sent email confirming

all kids will tested once per week ongoing in addition to all contacts tested daily for 7 days

they confirm testing is voluntary but contacts will have to isolate 10 days if they don't volunteer

dispite xmas holidays they are fully set up to start tomorrow for a school of 900 kids

All this drama on these threads shows it can be done - all tests received in school already

so impressed!

Well the stuff arrived, yes, but the training isn't finished yet. The webinar on how to do the tests is tomorrow.

Our local secondary hasn’t received all their tests yet, assume that isn’t their fault

Probably just as well they haven't received the tests as I assume it won't be happening now