• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Education
  • Events
  • Interviews
    • Career spotlight
  • Opinion
    • Professional Dilemmas
    • Patient perspective
  • PIPcast
  • Jobs
  • Business Directory

Pharmacy in Practice

EDX/20/1154
Date of prep: December 2020

Prescribing information and
adverse events reporting

For healthcare professionals only

Public Health England advise against rapid COVID-19 testing

11th May 2020 by PIP editor Leave a Comment

 

Today Public Health England (PHE) has issued a clarification that rapid point of care tests are different from those offered as part of testing for essential workers. The advice first issued on March 15th 2020 advising against the use of such ‘rapid’ tests in community pharmacy or at home remains in place.

 

PHE has said that some manufacturers are selling products containing COVID-19 testing kits that allow a swab or other type of sample to be taken at home or in the pharmacy setting, followed by a very rapid result within about 10 minutes.

 

In today’s update PHE have reiterated that these tests are different from the postal kits that are being used whereby the swab is taken by you at home and then returned by post or courier. (refer to essential worker testing for more information.)

 

The current view by PHE is that use of products that give a very rapid result is not advised.

 

PHE has said that some of these products look for virus while others look for the body’s immune response to the virus. Such tests are very rapid and can work on a range of specimens including serum, plasma or finger-prick whole blood.

 

It is the view of PHE that there is little information on the accuracy of these rapid point of care tests, or on how a patient’s antibody response develops or changes during COVID-19 infection. Their view is that it is not known whether either a positive or negative result is reliable.

 

They conclude by stating that currently there is no published evidence about the suitability of these rapid point of care tests for diagnosing COVID-19 infection in a community setting.

 

 

This circular is being shared under the Open Government Copyright licence.

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Next article  Pledge to vaccinate 400k Scots a week by end of February

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Testing

Register for our upcoming webinar and live Q&A

About PIP editor

Pharmacy in Practice is a UK pharmacy publication with its roots in Scotland.

Reader Interactions

Begin the discussion right here Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

PIP business directory

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor

Community pharmacy central to tackling hepatitis C

Pharmacists must leave their comfort zone for the sector to thrive

Should pharmacists be sent to check home medicine cupboards?

The ‘ART’ of Scottish community pharmacy is all about data

More letters to the editor here...

Blogs

💊 PIP live pharmacy blog

Winter stresses must not ‘destabilise’ general practice

What is it like to depend on medicine to treat endometriosis?

Opinion

Why is pharmacy not integral to government mass vaccination plans?

Pharmacy Covid-19 vaccination involvement is a ‘no-brainer’

The great patient medication returns debacle

CPD Challenges

💊 CPD Challenge: How well do you understand pulmonary embolisms?

💊 CPD Challenge: Prescribing and dispensing clozapine

💊 CPD Challenge: Oral anticoagulants – Dabigatran

More CPD challenges here...

© 2021 · About Pharmacy In Practice · Site mantained by Mike

This site is for healthcare professionals, please confirm you are a healthcare professional to continue.

YES

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Pharmacy In Practice uses cookies, by continuing to use this site we will assume you are ok with that Find out more.