Responding to an announcement by the Department of Health and Social Care that asymptomatic testing for COVID will be paused, RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said:
"Nursing staff are only too aware of the terrible toll the failure to test can have on some of their most vulnerable patients in hospitals and across social care.
“Cases of COVID-19 may well be falling but this virus has still not gone away, and it is vital that there is continued vigilance to ensure patients and nursing staff are not put at risk.
“Nursing staff in all settings must continue to have access to free testing and high-quality personal protective equipment.
“Risk assessments, in line with health and safety legislation, should be undertaken by all healthcare staff.
“We have all come a long way and must not risk any backwards step when health services are already under enormous pressure.”
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