From: Phil Back <philb@wboppho.org.nz> on behalf of Phil Back Sent on: Friday, August 28, 2020 3:28:41 AM To: Practice.Managers <Practice.Managers@wboppho.org.nz> CC: Leadership Team <leadership.team@wboppho.org.nz> Subject: Update on Covid testing strategies Attachments: Advised PathLab codes to be used for Covid.docx (11.9 KB)
Dear Practice Managers, please ensure the following advice is circulated as appropriate across your Practice Team: Earlier this week, the MOH advised that they were seeking to adopt a testing strategy over the next two weeks to achieve 70,000 Covid-19 tests in the coming week alone. 30% (21,000) of those tests are to be undertaken outside of the Auckland region. Within the BOP, that suggests approx. 1,700 tests should be completed over the week or 240 per day. For WBOPPHO Practices, that is around 1,400 tests over the week or an average of 200 per day for the next 7 days. A key change in Government messaging has been the inclusion of asymptomatic testing as part of a broader community surveillance programme. Within the BOP, we are taking a staged approach that is likely to achieve the desire testing volume while not creating confusion across the community through mixed messages or contribute to an unintended surge of asymptomatic patients flooding General Practice seeking a Covid test. Our focus initially will be solely on high priority Health Workers and surveillance testing at the Port of Tauranga. It has been proposed through the BOPDHB Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) that the following activities be promoted: 1.
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General Practice will continue to be supported to meet demand for testing of symptomatic patients, either through on-site testing or virtual assessment and onreferral to PathLab. Commencing from Tuesday, 1 September 2020, General Practice is now also encouraged to offer testing to their staff, as part of the asymptomatic community surveillance testing. (NB: This can be claimed as a Simple Assessment within current funding arrangements. Please ensure that the surveillance code HealthcareWorkers is used if testing this category of at-risk workers.) Please also see the attached list of PathLab codes that cover a broader range of surveillance testing and ensure the correct code is used when requesting these tests via PathLab. (List is provided below this email). WBOPPHO and Iwi partners continue to work with Port of Tauranga Authorities to provide onsite retesting of at risk Port workers as part of the ongoing border protection activity. BOPDHB MÄ ori Health Gains and Development will continue to mobilise Covid testing into dedicated communities with a particular focus on MÄ ori and Pacifica. Our Iwi partners will continue to provide their usual community-based services but complimented with a standalone Covid testing capability for symptomatic patients. We will work with local facilities to implement testing arrangements for Aged Residential Care workers, which could include referring them back to their General Practice as part of the high risk Health Worker group.
In addition to the above activities, the following service provision will be maintained: 8. Accident and Healthcare continue to meet walk-in demand during normal operational hours 9. Some Practices will continue to offer Covid testing for enrolled patients during extended and afterhours services (with some also accepting casual contacts). NB: 10. There will not be any further 0800 Call Centre activity initiated at this time. 11. PathLab will not be operating a weekend Covid-testing service. Please continue to liaise with your GPL should any additional advice be required. With regards GPL Team
Attachments: Advised PathLab codes to be used for Covid.docx (11.9 KB) New Pathlab codes for additional asymptomatic community covid testing SUPOL SUCBAC SUMP SUVUL SUBOPDHB SULDHB SULABB SULABL SUPP SUAMB SUVULP SUGEN SUAIRNZ SUISO SUREPAT SUTSTF SUTCRW
Surveillance testing : NZ Police Surveillance testing : CBAC workers Surveillance testing : Maori Health Providers Surveillance testing : Vulnerable individual workers Surveillance testing : BOP DHB staff Surveillance testing : Lakes DHB staff Surveillance testing : BOP Lab staff Surveillance testing : Lakes Lab staff Surveillance testing : Pacific Health Providers Surveillance testing : St John Ambulance Surveillance testing : Vulnerable individuals Surveillance testing : Asymptomatic testing Surveillance testing : Air New Zealand Surveillance testing : Isolation Testing Repatriation testing Surveillance testing : Ports of Tauranga staff Surveillance testing : Ports of Tauranga Maritime Crew