Yorkshire firm wins Covid-19 test contract

Home testing kit

Following a successful pilot scheme, an innovative Yorkshire-based business that was launched last spring in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, has joined forces with Sellafield Ltd to provide its workforce with at-home lateral flow Covid testing and a support service for employees.

After completing an accelerated two-week trial with 150 staff at the Cumbrian nuclear waste management site, Moore Medtech has rolled out its services to the full 5,000-strong Sellafield team of key workers. In line with Government protocols for large businesses, staff will be sent rapid (15-minute) athome tests to use every three days in order to mitigate the risk of asymptomatic employees who are currently infectious going on site.

In addition, Moore Medtech, an engineer-led work safety provider, has implemented an online programme, including a video, to train Sellafield personnel about how to carry out the testing correctly and to support any employees with test-related issues and concerns.

“With thousands of key workers providing vital services, businesses have to find a way of keeping people on site as safely as possible and this is exactly what our services have been designed to do,” explained Jamie Moore, CTO of Moore Medtech. “We were recommended to Sellafield by another large business for whom we have successfully developed remote testing, training and support services, and, in a matter of weeks, we were able to devise and implement an appropriate programme for Sellafield.

“It’s not enough for a business simply to send out test kits –personnel need to be trained to use them correctly in order to get a clear result and also be given guidance about what to do next, depending on the outcome of the test. In addition to a training video and comprehensive bespoke website, our programme at Sellafield gives employees access to two online drop-in support sessions every day, run by trained nurses, who can quickly provide assistance and answer any questions.”

Madeleine Archer, Strategy Lead in Corporate Strategy, and part of the Covid-19 Recovery Team at Sellafield, said: “We don’t have the kind of business where everyone can work from home or the option of just pausing operations as some of our facilities require 24/7 supervision for nuclear safety, however, we needed to increase workforce confidence in attending work.

“Having reviewed options for testing in the workplace, we realised that the sheer number of employees would have required a very large facility and with lots of our teams on 12-hour shifts, asking them to wait for testing before they start work would make the day too long. We had heard about Moore MedTech’s home testing programme for other large organisations and this sounded like the best solution. The testing programme has been well-received with good up-take so far from the workforce. Moore Medtech’s support has been excellent, helping us achieve our aim of increasing employee confidence to come to work on site.”