NHS National Services Scotland Newsroom

23 October 2020, 15:11

New regional testing hubs will increase capacity by 22,000 tests per day

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is helping to set up three new regional laboratory hubs which will support a sustainable approach to COVID-19 testing in Scotland.

The three hubs which will deliver more than 22,000 additional tests per day for NHS Scotland, will go live over a phased opening between mid-November and December. The hubs will be located in the following sites previously occupied by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (part of NSS):

  • Gartnavel Hospital, Glasgow
  • Lauriston Place, Edinburgh
  • Foresterhill, Aberdeen

Mary Morgan, NSS Director responsible for leading the programme of work to help increase testing capacity, said,

“The establishment of the regional hubs is an important development in helping to increase laboratory testing capacity in Scotland, and colleagues from across NSS and the clinical teams within the host health boards have worked tirelessly to support this programme of work. The national perspective and unique set of skills that NSS brings combined with the tremendous efforts of the health boards’ clinical teams have helped to enable this work to be progressed at pace.”

NSS is fully supporting with the fit-out, equipping, programme management, and IT as part of the overall programme for NHSScotland. Health Facilities Scotland (part of NSS) is currently leading on the physical establishment of the labs within the sites and is working closely with local health board clinical teams from NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian. The hubs will be managed by the three health boards.

Recruitment is currently ongoing and it is anticipated that staffing levels will be in excess of 200 across the three sites. When fully operational the hubs will provide a 24/7 service, which will further increase testing capacity in Scotland.