The Government announced on 7 December that NHS Test and Trace is making regular Covid-19 testing available to eligible extra care and supported living services in England. The services which are able to access this are the ones most similar to care homes. This is because the risk of the virus spreading in them is high and their residents may be more vulnerable.

To be eligible, a service must be:

• A closed community with substantial facilities shared between multiple people
• Where most residents receive the kind of personal care that is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Personal care that is CQC regulated involves supporting people with things like washing, bathing or cleaning themselves, getting dressed or going to the toilet. 
• If as a service, you’re eligible, your council should refer you for the testing service. Alternatively, from 11 December you should be able to refer yourself using the self-referral portal.

How will the testing service work?

• Your local authority identifies your service as eligible for extra care and supported living testing. You receive an email inviting you to order test kits from the following email address: organisation.coronavirus.testing@notifications.service.gov.uk
• If you have not been identified by your local authority but your service meets the eligibility criteria you can use the self-referral portal.
• You will then be given a Unique Organisation Number (UON) which you need to order tests.
• Your service chooses a testing coordinator to manage the whole testing process, including ordering the tests, preparation to test and conducting testing.
• From 9 December, testing coordinators should order tests every 28 days for their service.
• All staff and residents should be offered tests in the service, including care staff, housing staff, and all residents, whether they receive personal care or not.
• Each member of staff should take a test each week and each resident should be tested monthly.
• Completed tests can be sent back using the priority post box or collected via a courier.
• Results will be received within two to four days by email and text message (SMS).

Testing timetable 

From 9 December, extra care and supported living services in England will have monthly tests available for residents and weekly tests for staff. Therefore, services are advised to follow the testing timetable below:

Week one: Test all residents and staff 
Week two: Test all staff 
Week three: Test all staff 
Week four: Test all staff 

Why testing is important

Testing is important because it:

• Identifies staff and residents who currently have COVID-19 so they are able to self-isolate if their result is positive.
• Protects those receiving care from catching the virus from staff who are confirmed positive.
• Prevents and controls the spread of the virus by identifying people who have the virus but are asymptomatic (do not show any symptoms).

What is the self-referral portal?

From 11 December eligible services will be able to refer themselves for this testing service by following these steps:

1. Visit https://request-onboarding.test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/
2. Enter the ‘DHSC Referrer Unique Organisation Number’ which is 99874802.
3. Complete eligibility questions.
4. Enter all of the information for the service, including delivery address and contact details and submit the referral.

The referral is then sent to the council for approval. The council assesses if the setting/s meets the eligibility criteria, and confirms or denies the referral request/s. The referral is then sent to the council. If eligible, the council will add the service onto the testing service systems and they will then be eligible to place an order for test kits. This process can take up to two weeks for eligible services to be registered.

For more information about the testing service for extra care and supported living services, see the Government Guidance. You can also visit our guidance for supported living services for general information and advice.

What we’re doing

We are telling the Government about your experiences of the coronavirus outbreak so it knows what life is like for autistic people and their families. If you want to share your experiences with us, or any worries or concerns you have, please send an email to stories@nas.org.uk.

If you want advice or are worried about these changes, you can find out more about what help and support is available.