Following a question from one of my Lib Dem colleagues, Surrey County Council yesterday confirmed it was opening several coronavirus testing centres, including Goldwater Lodge in Woking, for essential workers who are asymptomatic and have no symptoms.

A pilot scheme will be introduced initially at three sites at the beginning of February.  Bourne Hall in Epsom, Goldwater Lodge in Woking and Thameside Centre in Staines will become Surrey’s first community lateral flow testing sites offering asymptomatic testing for essential workers not covered by other testing programmes, for example nursery workers.  It is expected that the centres will be open between 7.45 am to 8 pm.

Additional centres are planned to be opened later in February.  Testing will start at sites in Elmbridge, Guildford and Reigate, three weeks after the initial locations, and finally two weeks after that in Surrey Heath and Waverley.  Full details will be made available by the public health team at Surrey County Council in due course.

I am really pleased to see that essential workers, many of whom are involved in delivering services to some of the most vulnerable residents in our communities, will soon have access to lateral flow testing which is another important tool in combatting this terrible virus.

It is vital to make this process as accessible as possible and I am glad to see that the planned opening hours of the test centres should allow workers to be able to attend either before they start work or after they have finished.

The Lib Dems and I would also like to recognise the important role that volunteers will play in the operation of these testing sites and would encourage anyone interested to volunteer through the Central Surrey Voluntary Action website here.