States of Guernsey recycles hundreds of lateral flow tests - BBC

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By John Fernandez

BBC Guernsey political reporter

Hundreds of out of date lateral flow tests (LFTs) have been recycled by the States of Guernsey.

The boxes arrived in the island in May and have been in storage since then.

A States of Guernsey spokesperson said "stocks going out of date is an unusual situation".

The States has now stopped issuing free LFTs to businesses and the public. Islanders have been told if they want to test they need to buy their own tests.

Since the start of the pandemic the UK government has provided LFT tests to the States of Guernsey for free.

Storage of these tests locally has cost the island's government, but it has not revealed how much.

'Decreased demand'

A States spokesperson said: "The majority of our supplies remain in date but some of those pictured went out of date in November and will have been recycled by now, or are in the process of being recycled.

"Stocks going out of date is an unusual situation and not one that has occurred previously as the community was testing more frequently.

"As the island has continued progressing towards living responsibly with Covid throughout 2022, the demand for LFTs has naturally lessened and our testing strategy has adapted to this decreased demand, focusing remaining stocks on where they are needed most."

They said the States "looked at other options before recycling out of date LFTs, including offering to send stocks nearing their end date to other jurisdictions..."

The spokesperson added: "Neighbouring jurisdictions had ample supplies and the advice from manufacturers and regulators was that LFTs should not be distributed beyond their expiry date."

From January, if people have symptoms and buy tests they will be provided with a pack of five individual tests per household.

The current States of Guernsey testing guidelines for Covid-19 is to test only if symptomatic with no further testing required following a positive result.

From January 2023, the remaining stock of LFTs will be prioritised for the following groups:

Symptomatic people
Visitors to care and residential home, hospital and prison
Health & Social Care staff
Pre-operative testing
If a person is a health or social care worker and a household contact
Management of outbreaks in healthcare settings, residential homes and prison, as appropriate.