Harrogate covid testing site to be moved

Harrogate’s coronavirus testing centre is to be moved to a new location “within the next few months”, it has been announced.

The current site in the Dragon Road car park, near Asda, opened in October and has the capacity to carry out about 300 swabs a day.

But because the car park is used by Harrogate Convention Centre, which is planning to reopen in June, the Serco-run site will have to be moved.

Cllr Michael Harrison, executive member for adult services and health integration at North Yorkshire County Council, told a meeting today that this would occur “in the next few months” and at a new location in the town to be announced at a later date.

He said:

“Dragon Road car park is an integral part of the convention centre operation so we will be needing to relocate the testing centre somewhere else in the next few months.

“It has been a useful, central site up until now and the intention would be that Harrogate still needs a site for people to be able to go.”

Harrogate Convention Centre has been used as an NHS Nightingale hospital for almost a year. The Nightingale will close next month without treating a single covid patient.

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Paula Lorimer, the centre’s director, said last week the venue was planning for events to return from June 21 when all social distancing restrictions are due to end.

There are, however, questions over when the dismantling of the Nightingale will begin and how long it will take.

Ms Lorimer previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service:

“Discussions with colleagues from the NHS about their plans for returning the Harrogate Convention Centre to us are ongoing.

“However, we are confident that the venue will reopen from 21 June in line with government restrictions ending.”

Harrogate covid testing site to become rapid test collection point

School pupils and staff in Harrogate will be able to collect rapid covid tests at the town’s testing centre from next week.

The Dragon Road site will become a collection point in the afternoon as part of a government plan to expand access to local community testing.

It comes as secondary school children will be tested using lateral flow tests twice a week from March 8.

The site will operate as a collection point for lateral flow kits from 1.30pm until 7pm.

Households with primary school, secondary school or college aged children, which includes childcare and support bubbles, will be able to use the site to collect rapid test kits.

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Primary school, secondary school and college staff will also be able to use the facility.

The site will still carry out symptomatic testing as normal in a morning until 12pm.

Dr Victoria Turner, public health consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, told a press briefing of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, a partnership of emergency agencies, that it should not affect symptomatic testing.

She said:

“We have discussed in recent weeks that we have had plenty of spare capacity at local test sites, so this should not impact peoples’ ability to access symptomatic testing should they need it.”

Dr Turner added that she expects that more collection sites will be created nationally by the end of March.

Meanwhile, Harrogate District Hospital has reported another death from a patient who tested positive for covid.

According to NHS England figures, the patient died on March 2. It takes the death toll at the hospital since the start of the pandemic to 162.

Ripon coronavirus testing site being considered

A coronavirus testing site in Ripon could open in an effort to expand capacity.

Victoria Turner, public health consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, said at a press briefing today the authority was “scoping” a mobile site in the city from next week.

However, no further details have been revealed.

Ripon has some of the lowest rates of covid infections in the Harrogate district.

Today’s press briefing also revealed the full-time Harrogate testing site on Dragon Road is averaging 180 tests per day – well below its capacity of 320.

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A further 50 cases of coronavirus were confirmed today in the Harrogate district, according to Public Health England.

The figure takes the total number of cases up to 3,254.

There are further encouraging signs that the spread of the virus is slowing.

The seven-day average rate of infections for the district has fallen to 241 per 100,000 people, down from 307 last week.

It means the district has fallen from having the second highest rate in the county to the fourth highest behind Selby, Craven and Scarborough.

The R number has also gone down from 1.6 to 1.2.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health for North Yorkshire, told today’s press briefing of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, a partnership of emergency agencies, that consensus was needed over future restrictions.

He said the tier one measures, which were in place in the county until the second lockdown, did not give people “a sense of seriousness about the situation”.

Permanent covid testing site to open in Harrogate next week

Harrogate’s full-time coronavirus testing site is due to open next week.

The Department of Health and Social Care site will be located in the Dragon Road car park, which has been home to the mobile testing centre over the past few months.

The mobile testing centre has generally been open for four hours a day, two days a week.

The new full-time centre is due to begin operating on Wednesday next week. After an initial pilot period, it will be open between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week.

People will be able to turn up on foot, unlike at the mobile testing centres. However, tests must still be booked in advance,

While the permanent site is being built, the mobile testing facility will move to Harrogate Hydro on Friday this week and then Harrogate High School on Sunday.

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North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, a partnership organisation that includes councils, emergency services and health bodies that tackle the pandemic, successfully made the case for permanent centres in Harrogate and Scarborough to the DHSC.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, the director of public health in North Yorkshire, said:

“We have worked hard to retain and increase the level of testing across the county, so we are pleased that our efforts have resulted in the creation of these two sites, which will be up and running shortly.

“We will continue to lobby for further expansion of testing facilities across the county.”

The Stray Ferret asked the DHSC the cost of building the permanent testing centre in Harrogate but had not received a response by the time of publication.

The Harrogate district recorded a further 24 positive coronavirus cases today, according to the latest Public Health England figures.

It takes the total number of cases in the district since the start of the pandemic to 1,436.