‘Australia-first’ trial of pharmacy COVID-19 testing begins
Health officials in SA say the pilot will assess feasibility of a state-wide program to boost testing capacity
Pharmacists are collecting nasopharyngeal swabs from patients with suspected COVID-19 under a new trial in South Australia.
The two-week pilot is being run in five pharmacies in Adelaide ahead of a possible state-wide rollout, SA health officials have said.
Patients face no out-of-pocket costs although they must register with the SA Pathology website to receive their test results.
Until now, swab collection in Australia has been done exclusively by doctors, or by nurses working under medical supervision.
