13 August 2021
We are pleased to let you know that we are introducing rapid antigen testing at Whiddon Redhead, Whiddon Belmont and Whiddon Largs from Monday, 16 August. We trialled this at Whiddon Easton Park and Whiddon Hornsby over last month with the team there, as South-west Sydney is in an area that continues to see high levels of community transmission. We are now pleased to be able to offer this across more of our care homes, to provide an extra layer of protection as community transmission remains high.
The test is not compulsory, however we strongly encourage you to participate as it’s so important that we are doing everything we can to make sure that no one is unwillingly bringing the virus into our home.
The rapid antigen tests we will be using are not as invasive as the PCR tests that you may have already had at one of the NSW testing clinics, although it does require a nasal swab. Up-take of the tests were high at Easton Park and Hornsby and feedback overwhelmingly indicated that rapid antigen testing gave confidence that employees and residents weren’t at risk.
The results of the rapid test are delivered in just ten minutes. We will be offering this while community transmission is high and while we can access the testing kits. We will then assess the position following this and decide how to proceed from there.
Thank you so much for everything that you are doing. We can’t do it with you and we want you to know we are genuinely working very hard behind the scenes to do the very best we can to support you.