Care Inspectorate Wales – On Behalf of Welsh Government
The approach we continue to adopt is that COVID-19 is not over, and the transition from pandemic to endemic needs to be determined by the public health conditions at the time.
Objectives moving forward will continue to focus on:
- Protecting the vulnerable from severe disease by enabling access to vaccination, treatments; and safeguarding against the risk of infection.
- Maintaining capacity to respond to localised outbreaks and in high-risk settings.
- Retaining effective surveillance systems to identify any deterioration in the situation such as from harmful variants and mutations of concern; and
- Preparing for the possible resurgence of the virus.
Please find the updates on lateral flow tests and testing arrangements from 1 August 2022.
In line with our objective to protect the vulnerable the following will be provided under TTP:
- LFD and PCR testing for those eligible for COVID-19 treatments.
- LFD testing for people visiting those eligible for COVID-19 treatments.
- LFD testing for people visiting care homes.
- PCR multiplex testing for COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses for symptomatic care home residents and prisoners.
- PCR and LFD testing in accordance with the patient testing framework and clinical judgement.
- LFD testing for symptomatic health and social care staff.
- LFD tests for regular asymptomatic testing for health and social care staff (This will be reviewed at lower prevalence).
- Extension of the COVID-19 Statutory Sick Pay Enhancement scheme until 31 August to support social care staff to stay away from work due to testing positive.
Welsh Government will continue to review the testing arrangements for social care over the coming weeks, especially with regard to regular asymptomatic testing, and will advise of any changes. Welsh Government would like to thank you for continuing to follow the guidance for social care and COVID-19 and helping to keep Wales safe.
Reminder
- Arranging a PCR multiplex test for care home residents (and supported living where the risks are similar to a care home) must be done via the local health board. We no longer use lighthouse laboratories for these tests.
- For guidance on testing for health and social care staff with symptoms of COVID-19 please see https://gov.wales/covid-19-testing-health-and-social-care-workers
- For health and social care staff who are contacts of someone with COVID-19 please see the following guidance https://gov.wales/covid-19-contacts-guidance-health-and-social-care-staff.
- LFD and PCR testing for those eligible for COVID-19 treatments https://gov.wales/covid-19-treatments please see the section on care homes.
For any queries please contact the mailbox COVID-19 – Test Trace Protect / Profi Olrhain Diogelu Covid19.TestTraceProtect@gov.wales
