Are hospitals still testing routinely for COVID-19? No. In the main, if there is no reason to think you have the virus, then we do not do a test.
Most regular asymptomatic (i.e. if you are not unwell) testing for COVID-19 in hospitals, care homes, and hospices in England was ‘paused’ in September 2022.
In most hospitals, on specific ‘high risk’ (to patients if they get it from other people in the hospital) wards – e.g. renal (kidneys), haematology (blood) and oncology (cancer) – there is still routine testing on admission. But it does vary from hospital to hospital.
We were testing routinely on asymptomatic patients, several times during the admission on all wards.
Testing was also halted in prisons and detention centres, as well as in domestic abuse refuges and homelessness settings. However, symptomatic testing continues in all of high risk areas.
The UK Health Security Agency’s (UK-HSA) chief medical adviser, Susan Hopkins, said, “COVID-19 case rates and hospitalisations are on the decline, demonstrating the positive impact of the vaccines, which remain our best form of defence. The data from our surveillance shows prevalence is low and decreasing, and we will continue to monitor this data closely.”
Note. Testing remains for admissions to care homes and hospices and for transfers of immunocompromised patients to and within hospitals.
Other resources
There is more information on the DHSC website here, where some of this information originates.
