We are partnering with Southampton City Council and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to support public access to Covid-19 Testing and to further support the city’s response to the pandemic.
You may already be aware of the three other Local Testing Sites (LTS) within the city: Woodley Road Car Park in Woolston, Marlborough Road Car Park (South) in Shirley and The Guild Hall, situated in the City Centre. A fourth site at our Avenue Campus car park, has now received confirmation from the DHSC and will ensure local communities within the north of the city have additional testing capacity.
The site construction is due to start early next week so you may notice some additional activity on Avenue Campus, and there may be some slight disturbance to the normal running of the campus whilst this takes place.
The site will be managed by contractor Mitie on behalf of the DHSC and Covid-19 tests will be by appointment only. There will be a one-way entrance and exit to the site for all those getting a test.
Once the site is operational, appointments will be available for everyone with Covid-19 symptoms, including vulnerable groups and people with disabilities, seven days a week from 8:00 to 20:00.
The site has comprehensive operating procedures which have been signed off by Public Health England to ensure that procedures have health and safety at the forefront. Several safeguarding measures will be in place, including:
- Social distancing measures. Those being tested will be required to follow public health measures, including social distancing, not travelling to the test centre by taxi or public transport, good personal hygiene and wearing a face covering throughout (including travelling to and from the testing site).
- Personal Protective Equipment on site. Staff who interact with test subjects directly will wear full PPE. The on-site operational staff who do not come into direct contact with any test subjects will however not wear PPE, as this is not required.
- Cleaning regime. There is a strict cleaning regime for the whole site which means that facilities are cleaned multiple times a day to ensure very high standards of hygiene. Waste will be removed on a regular basis.
- Designated areas. The testing area is segregated from all other areas. All efforts will be made to reduce the disturbances to local communities and only operational staff will be in the designated area of the testing site.
Should you have any further queries please email [email protected]
