COVID-19: summary guidance for service providers on point of care or near-person tests for diagnosis and management
This guidance states that a point of care (POC) or near-person (NP) test may be used within a healthcare setting such as a hospital, a general practice or a pharmacy, or in other settings such as a residential care home, a school, or in a person’s home.
Source:
Public Health England
SPS commentary:
An article in the Pharmaceutical Journal notes that this supersedes earlier advice, which said rapid POC Covid-19 tests should not be used in community pharmacy, owing to a lack of information on their accuracy.
Lateral flow antigen testing of asymptomatic patients and lateral flow antibody testing are still not recommended, “unless as a formal part of one of the programmes or pilot studies within the National Testing Programme”.