"Drive through Covid-19 Testing Cell"

I was having a minor operation at North Devon District Hospital and I was trialling a new system of pre-op Covid testing with Lumira tests which get an accurate result within 15 mins.

Thirty mins before my operation, I had to drive through a marquee in the car park, swab myself in my car and drop it into a pot to be tested. I parked up for 15 mins, read some e-mails then I was passed a slip of paper showing I was Covid negative which I took into my surgery.

It was so simple and easy compared with the old system whereby I would have had to have my swab 72 hours pre-op and then self isolate until my surgery. As a surgeon myself, this would have meant cancelling a whole day of outpatient clinic and a whole day of operating.

This new service was absolutely fantastic. The only potential issue would be if I tested positive and the team would not have been able to replace my slot in theatre. However, with testing 48-72 hours pre-op in the old system, it was never enough time to find a replacement patient anyway. What’s not to like about this new, efficient service? Well done NDDH for adopting this!