Prioritising community testing in East Sussex

Closed 7 Feb 2021

Opened 29 Jan 2021

Contact

Public Health

PublicHealthEnquiries@eastsussex.gov.uk

Results updated 12 Apr 2021

East Sussex County Council launched an online consultation entitled ‘Prioritising community testing in East Sussex’. It aimed to collect further information from organisations, businesses, ‘sole traders’ and employers of staff who work with people at greater risk of contracting COVID-19, or who have staff who cannot do their job from home. This further information would enable the council to make best use of resources and provide fast and effective coronavirus testing to key groups locally.

The consultation ran between 29 January and 7 February 2021. It was promoted via social media channels, and via email by council officers through a range of health, care and voluntary organisations.

269 respondents took part in the consultation. Of these:

  • 228 (85%) wanted to be contacted about future community testing for people without symptoms of coronavirus
  • Responses came from a range of different-sized businesses. 81 (30%) responded on behalf of small-sized organisations, with 10-49 employees. A further 26 (10%) were large-sized, employing at least 250 people
  • 146 respondents (54%) stated that their organisation worked with vulnerable people
  • 253 respondents (94%) stated that their workers could not work from home
  • There was a near-equal equal split of respondents from the five district and boroughs. Eastbourne had the highest with 58 (22%), and Rother the lowest with 49 (18%)

Following this consultation, these findings, preferences, contact information and numbers have been used to develop the community testing programme for people without symptoms of coronavirus. Since this time a number of national testing programmes have also been launched.

Full details about all types of coronavirus testing within East Sussex are available at Getting a COVID-19 test in East Sussex – East Sussex County Council

Overview

Does your business or organisation employ staff who work with people who are at greater risk if they catch Covid-19, or have staff who cannot do their job from home? If the answer is yes, and your company or organisation is not already undergoing regular testing, nor eligible for national testing, please complete this short survey. This will let us know how many of your staff you feel could benefit from community testing.

What you tell us in the survey will be used to develop our Covid-19 community testing programme and the infrastructure needed to launch it. Taking part in the survey doesn't guarantee access to the service, but your feedback will help us make effective regular testing available to as many people as possible to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

 

How to take part

You can complete the survey by clicking on the link below. It should take no more than ten minutes to complete. The survey will only be open for a short time, as the community testing needs to start as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about the survey or you need it in another format or language, please get in touch with us, using the email details to the right. Please put "Re community testing survey" in the email subject box.

Why your views matter

Community testing is being rolled out in East Sussex to identify people who unknowingly have Covid-19. Testing of people without symptoms (known as being asymptomatic) will enable anyone unknowingly carrying the virus to isolate, along with their contacts, thus reducing the spread of the virus in the community.

Community testing must be carried out regularly (twice weekly) and is not a replacement for other prevention measures. All employees should continue to follow the Covid-secure measures in place for your business whilst at work and continue to follow the current national guidance when they are not working.

Community testing is not for people displaying symptoms of Covid-19. If you have symptoms you should self-isolate immediately and book a test by calling 119 or visiting gov.uk/coronavirus

To make best use of resources and provide fast and effective testing we need to prioritise key groups within our community who would be eligible.

Privacy information: You are asked within the survey to provide your email address. We will only use this information to contact you about the community testing service. Please ensure that any comments you make don't include any names or personal details of you or anyone else. You can find our privacy notice about how the data will be stored and processed by East Sussex County Council on our website.

Areas

  • All Areas

Audiences

  • Businesses

Interests

  • Health and wellbeing