Supporting the Royal Borough of Greenwich with community testing
Alongside operating more than 150 Covid-19 testing centres across the UK, Sodexo is now also supporting mass testing for Royal Borough of Greenwich with 7,000 tests a day.
Mass testing makes it easier to find people who may be unaware that they are infected and can then be told to isolate and be prevented from spreading the virus.
Within one week, Sodexo established 12 hours a day, seven days a week mass testing operations to help to protect the local community from covid-19.
The team provided an end-to-end set up covering infrastructure build, estates management, security and traffic management, cleaning, resourcing and testing, supply chain, waste management and welfare.
Over the first weekend of January 2021, thousands of school children and staff from Royal Borough of Greenwich were tested with lateral flow devices (LFD) at Charlton Athletic’s stadium, The Valley, receiving their results within 30 minutes.
Sodexo management teams supported the operation of the testing facility on behalf of Royal Borough of Greenwich.
From 11 January 2021, Sodexo teams will also oversee Covid-19 testing for all secondary schools in Royal Borough of Greenwich where children of key workers are still able to attend. Six mobile teams of up to eight people will visit schools in the borough and carry out LFD testing.
As well as supporting the testing of school children and staff, Sodexo are operating at Daniel Defoe Hall (student accommodation for University of Greenwich) to support mass testing for the public. Sodexo recently supported several UK universities with Coronavirus testing.
Neal Gisborne, Sodexo’s Project Director for the Covid-19 Test Centres, said: “We’ve provided crucial support to Royal Borough of Greenwich to support the operation of rapid Covid-19 testing at schools and universities."
We are the sole provider of staff for test centres brought in by Royal Borough of Greenwich and will have mobile teams ready to support mass testing in the area.
David Pinson, Head of Commissioning and Health Protection, Public Health Lead for Children and Young People, Public Health & Well Being, Royal Borough of Greenwich, said: "As part of our proactive Covid-19 testing approach, we are delivering mass testing for the Borough of Greenwich and we have been able to do this quickly and effectively with the support of Sodexo. The demands for testing are constantly changing and, having engaged with Sodexo, we are able to deliver an agile testing programme."
Sodexo is an important partner to help supply these services.