Health and social care staff should be given top priority for same-day “mass and routine” testing to slow the spread of coronavirus, a panel of specialists has said.

Results will have to be available within 24 hours and an “army” of testers and contact tracers will also be needed.

The call has been made by an expert panel created by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE), which includes top specialists in infectious disease, epidemiology and public health.

It follows an announcement by the Scottish Government that all care home staff in Scotland will be eligible for a test.

Dr Susan Pound, Vice President for Scotland at the RCPE said: “What we want to see is an effective testing strategy to slow the spread of coronavirus, and that begins with testing healthcare workers – including hospital consultants and care home staff.

“It is good that testing capacity is improving in Scotland – and across the UK – but a headline count of the number of tests per day is almost meaningless in managing the coronavirus, and what matters most is the strategy that testing helps to deliver.”

Responding to a call for views on testing by Holyrood’s health committee, the RCPE panel said:

“Testing, in itself, is not a ‘strategy’ for covid-19 control. Different uses may require massively different numbers of tests per day.

“A headline count of the number of tests per day is almost meaningless in terms of its contribution to epidemic management. What matters is the strategy the testing helps to deliver.”

The panel said it was becoming increasingly clear that the number of asymptomatic health and social care staff who are covid-19 is much higher than originally thought, adding:

“While the infectiousness of such individuals is as yet unknown it is possible that these staff contribute to spread amongst other colleagues and patients.”

By ensuring that all healthcare staff are routinely tested for coronavirus, positive cases can be tracked, traced and isolated to prevent the spread of coronavirus in hospitals and care homes and shield the most vulnerable to virus.

Guidance issued last week by Health Protection Scotland suggested testing of care home staff and residents will have to be rationed because of a lack of capacity.

The RCPE panel says there should be a clear strategy on laboratory use with members raising concerns about “unpredictable” access, despite good capacity being available.

“In addition to testing, resources must be put into public health to support the delivery of appropriate interventions (test, trace, isolate).

“A test result alone will not help: an intervention will have to follow. We therefore need an 'army' of testers and contact tracers”.

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