All care home staff from Country Court and Nellsar Care to get COVID-19 antibody testing

Two care home groups are offering antibody tests to all of their employees to help prevent transmission of coronavirus.

Country Court and Nellsar Care have agreed a deal with Avonchem, a leading supplier of diagnostic test kits and chemicals, to find out who has been previously exposed to the virus, although antibodies do not guarantee immunity.

Both care home groups can now offer testing to every employee, with Avonchem supplying 4,900 COVID-19 IgG/IgM finger prick tests to Country Court and 1,500 tests for Nellsar Care.

Al-Karim Kachra, finance director of Country Court, which operates 33 care homes, said: “By using antibody testing kits we can better understand the spread of the virus and use this to implement safety measures in the homes, such as using ratios of staff with and without antibodies on each shift.

“Everyone understands that people should not use the result of this test to go against PHE or government guidelines, but as there is a lot of anxiety nationally and we feel this has helped to alleviate some of this within our teams.”

Country Court has offered tests to each of its 3,000 staff on a voluntary basis, with 99 per cent opting to be tested, and it will likely also explore the possibility of testing residents in the near future. It said the tests supplied by Avonchem will be used in conjunction with the Government’s testing programme for health and care workers.

Nellsar Care Homes, which has 13 care homes, is rolling out a programme under which tests will be offered to all of its 1,000 employees and 500 residents, starting with those who have already had a positive swab test. Staff who test positively will not be treated as immune or exposed to additional risk, but the results will help staff and residents feel safer and understand whether they have already been exposed to the virus.

Martin Barrett, managing director of Nellsar Care, said: “By clearly identifying the current reach of the virus through my staff teams and residents, we can plan more effectively, we can keep people safer and we can show that we care for their well-being.

“We know that the Government agree that rolling out antibody tests is vital, but having seen the challenges evident with swab testing in a timely manner, I felt that it was my duty of care to act first. My staff risk-assess all situations and the feedback is clearly that they feel less at risk knowing if they, their colleagues and the people they support know whether they have antibodies or not.”

The tests, which are manufactured by US firm CTK Biotech and cost less than £10, are approved by MHRA and CE marked. They must be administered by health professionals and can produce results within 15 minutes.

James Gray, managing director of Avonchem, added: “Antibody testing is not a silver bullet but it can help track the spread of the virus, which is especially important in settings like care homes which continue to be on the front line of this crisis. It is brilliant to see the UK Government making antibody testing more widely available, and whilst discussions continue to support this national rollout, I am delighted we are already supporting care homes who immediately require this testing.”

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