Guidance

[Withdrawn] Visitors to adult social care settings: reporting rapid lateral flow tests at home

Updated 31 March 2023

This guidance was withdrawn on

Information on COVID-19 testing in adult social care is available in the COVID-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care.

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-for-adult-social-care-settings/visitors-to-adult-social-care-settings-reporting-rapid-lateral-flow-tests-at-home

This guidance has been withdrawn. Information is available at Infection prevention and control in adult social care: COVID-19 supplement.

This information is provided for visitors to adult social care (ASC) settings, on how to report rapid lateral flow tests, if self-testing at home.

The manager of the setting you intend to visit should share their unique organisation number (UON) with you.

The UON is used to link your test result to us when you report your result to NHS Test and Trace.

All results, including negatives, positives and voids, must be reported. Linking your test result to the setting you are visiting enables public health teams to better support us to reduce the transmission of coronavirus and prevent outbreaks.

Proof of a negative result may include:

  • an email or text from NHS Test and Trace

  • a date-stamped photo of the test cartridge itself

It is at the discretion of the setting manager whether they wish to accept visitors who have self-tested at home.

When to self-test

Please do a rapid lateral flow test on the day of your visit to a care setting to help keep us safe, reduce the spread of coronavirus and prevent outbreaks.

Adult social care settings can now provide you with a box of rapid lateral flow tests to take at home. You can find more information and order coronavirus (COVID-19) rapid lateral flow tests online.

To ensure that your test is linked to the care setting you are visiting, please ensure all tests are reported to their UON. How to do this is detailed below.

Step-by-step result reporting instructions

You should report your rapid lateral flow test result at home, before beginning your visit to an adult social care setting.

Follow these steps to report your result:

  1. Report online or call 119.

  2. Select ‘Myself’ when asked who you are reporting a result for.

  3. You can choose to continue ‘without an account’ or ‘create an account’. Creating an account will save your details each time you report a test result. Creating an account only takes 2 minutes and you’ll save 5 minutes when reporting each test result.

  4. If continuing without an account, select ‘A social care service’ when asked who the test was for.

  5. Select ‘I’m visiting someone who gets care or support’.

  6. Enter the UON of the care setting you are intending to visit. This should already have been provided to you by the setting manager.

  7. Check the details of the organisation are correct.

  8. Enter ‘Today’ when asked when the test was taken – please test on the day of your visit.

  9. Enter the ID number printed on the plastic test strip. You can also scan the QR code on the test strip if you are using a mobile device.

  10. Follow the remaining steps entering your personal details to complete your report.

You will receive a text message and email from NHS Test and Trace confirming your test result has been reported.

Visitor testing for other ASC settings

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