Family Early Help
Lateral Flow Tests Now Available for All Adults
From 9 April 2021, all adults in England can access lateral flow tests, including home test kits. Lateral flow tests are for people without COVID symptoms.
Here is a link to a map to find your nearest site for collecting lateral flow test home kits:
Pharmacy collection https://maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/
Test site collection https://find-covid-19-rapid-test-sites.maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/
If you can't collect home test kits, you can order them to be sent direct to your home. Here is a link to do this https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests
What to Do If Your Lateral Flow Test is Positive
- From 30 March 2021, anyone who tests positive from a lateral flow test is now advised to get a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result.
- People who test positive, and their close contacts, are required to isolate following the positive lateral flow test result.
- If the follow-up PCR test is taken within 2 days and comes back negative, the legal notifications to self-isolate is overturned and you can stop self-isolating
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Within two days means the PCR should be taken on the day the test was taken, the next day, or the following day (e.g. if you have a positive lateral flow test on Monday, you should do the PCR follow up test by Wednesday)
Here is an FAQ about this from Camden and Islington Public Health
Lateral Flow Tests Now Available for all Camden Parents with School Age Children, including Home Test Kits
Camden parents with a child in primary school, secondary school or college are now eligible for lateral flow tests. They can have tests at one of the seven community test sites across Camden, which can be booked at camden.gov.uk/rapidtest or call 020 7974 4444 (option 9).
They can also book a home rapid test kit to collect from the Kingsgate and Ramsay Hall test centres (open 1.30pm to 7.30pm every day), or find your closest COVID-19 test centre via the NHS map.
Lateral Flow Rapid COVID Tests in Camden
Here is a list of lateral flow test site locations in Camden:
Tests for COVID
The following groups of people can ask for a test through the NHS website:
- anyone in England and Wales who has symptoms of COVID whatever their age
- anyone in Scotland and Northern Ireland aged 5 and over who has symptoms of coronavirus
There is a section on the test booking form where you can specify that you are a critical worker. Workers like us use the same test booking system as everyone else.
Here is a link to Government information about how to get a test for COVID:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested
When to Get a COVID Test for Children - Information for Parents
The Chief Nurse and Interim Chief Medical Officer of NHS Test and Trace have written an information letter to tell parents and guardians when they should book a COVID test for their child. You can find it here
Test Walk-in Centres In and Around Camden
This list of COVID test walk-in centres in London has been doing the rounds and may be helpful to families (thanks to Anna from TT for providing). Note we haven't been able to verify that all of these sites will accept drop-in (some walk-in centres do, some will only accept appointments made via the NHS website) so if you share this list with families, please make them aware of that
https://www.camden.gov.uk/nhs-test-and-trace#dfmo
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11vbjterfEZEiAbSFd3tScLwAK14zwsFs/htmlview#gid=1276975266
Drive-through Testing Centres across London
(Camden advice is please do not turn up at one of the below sites unless you have an appointment because you will be turned away. If you are struggling to access a test, please keep trying and in the meantime, continue to self-isolate)
• Lee Valley Athletics Park, London N9 0AR
• TFL Car Park, Edmund Halley Way, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10 0PH
• World of Adventures, Chessington, Leatherhead Rd, Chessington KT9 2NE
• Heathrow Airport Car Park E2, Eastern Perimeter Rd, Hounslow TW6 2SQ
Mobile Testing Units
Please note that these are not permanent testing sites, and testing is only available at these sites on selected dates. Again, it is not recommended you turn up at one of these sites without an appointment:
- Canden: Kingsgate Community Centre, NW6 2JH. Open 7 days a week, 8am to 8pm.
- Camden: 51 Greenwood Place, Kentish Town, NW5 1LB (access from Highgate Road, outdoors, step-free access)
- Camden: Ramsey Hall, Maple Street, W1T 5HB (indoors)
- Barnet: Edgware Community Hospital, HA8 0AD
- Barnet: Barnet House, N20 0EJ
- Barnet: Brent Cross Shopping Centre, NW4 3FP
- Brent: Car Park Opposite Neasden Temple, Brentfield Road, London, NW10 8HE
- Hackney: Bentley Road Car Park, Dalston, N1 4BZ
- Hackney: Yesodey School, Ederton Road, N16 6UB
- Haringey: Alexandra Palace, Hornsey Gate, Alexandra Palace Way, N22 7AY
- Westminster: North Carriage Drive, Hyde Park, W2
About the Testing Process
Here is a link to the Government information about testing, including how to do tests using the home test kit
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested#the-testing-process
Test and Trace
The new test and trace scheme, which aims to identify people who have come into contact with someone with COVID, is now up and running. This is a link to information about what to do if you or a family are contacted by a contact tracer:
Government Information About How Test and Trace Works
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-how-it-works
Camden Information About Test and Trace
Test and Trace - Financial Support for Self Isolating
From 28 September 2020 – 31 January 2021, if a Camden resident meet al of the criteria below, they will be eligible for a one-off payment of £500 – called a Test and Trace support payment - to support them to self-isolate and to make up for lost income. The criteria is:
- You have been told to stay at home and self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, either because you have tested positive for COVID or have recently been in close contact with someone who has tested positive, and;
- You are employed or self-employed and unable to work from home – losing income as a result, and;
- You are currently receiving Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, income-based Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Housing Benefit and/or Pension Credit.
The payment is per person, not per household. For example if there are two adults having to self isolate in the same house, and both of them meet this criteria, they are both eligible.
More information and application form here (you can also ring up):
https://www.camden.gov.uk/apply-for-test-and-trace-support-payment
NHS COVID Test and Trace App
On 24 September 2020, the Government launched its COVID NHS App for mobile phones. The app is free to download and is designed to:
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Help identify people who have been in close recent contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID – including people they may not personally know
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Enable people to scan a QR code to 'check-in' to a venue – e.g. a shop, place of worship or voluntary organisation. All of public-facing services and buildings are displaying QR codes at their entrances too.
You can find more information about the app here https://covid19.nhs.uk/
And here is a leaflet for parents about the app
https://www.covid19.nhs.uk/pdf/parents-carers-over16s-factsheet.pdf
Surge Testing
Surge testing was introduced by the Government on 1 February 2021.
Surge testing happens when a variant of the COVID virus (South Africa variant for example) is identified in a local community. To try and suppress the variant, increased levels of COVID testing takes place in that area, including door-to-door testing in some cases.
Sometimes the surge testing is in a specific postcode, sometimes it is a whole borough (Wandsworth and Lambeth were examples of this).
Surge testing is of people without symptoms. Contact tracing is also enhanced during surge testing, again to try and suppress the variant as much as possible.
You can read more about surge testing here
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/surge-testing-for-new-coronavirus-covid-19-variants