A 'drive-thru' coronavirus testing clinic has opened in South Australia, in what is believed to be a first for the country's public health system.
The clinic is expected to receive a patient every 20-minutes once fully operational.
Patients in need of a test will require a referral from their GP before they can attend the drive-thru, which has been set up at the former Repatriation Hospital site in Adelaide's inner-southern suburbs.
SA Pathology's clinical service director, Dr Tom Dodd, said the service had been designed as another way for health professionals to collect samples from those potentially affected by the virus, and was not meant to replace any clinical services.
So this service is really specifically for patients who have already seen a GP and not for people to have a clinical assessment," Dr Dodd said.
"This is a pathology collection point only at this stage and we will be making it very clear to GPs that they'll need to see the patients first and then refer the patients onto here after they've organised a collection time, and provided us with a request form."
Dr Dodd believed the testing station was "a national first … on a state [managed] basis".
"We believe it will be very effective in supporting isolation and barriers for patients with … COVID-19," he said.
"Patients will just literally be able to drive through this side of the repat [hospital], wind their window down and the specimens will be collected directly out of the car window by SA Pathology nurses [who] will be wearing personal protective equipment.
"It presents no risk at all for anyone working on the site and will support isolation of those patients until the results of their tests are known."
More drive-thru clinics could be set up around Adelaide if the southern clinic is successful.
The clinic will operate for between eight and nine hours each day from tomorrow, but Dr Dodd said those hours would be increased if demand grows.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/first-drive-thru-coronavirus-testing-station-opens-in-south...
