Staff at the John Lewis distribution warehouse took part in a rapid COVID-19 testing pilot which saw them receive results in an hour.
Employers across the country are signing up for rapid COVID-19 testing which uses lateral flow tests on asymptomatic workers.
The John Lewis Distribution Centre, at Magna Park, was one of the first organisations to trial the internal pilot launched by the Department for Health and Social Care.
Andy, a distribution centre manager at John Lewis, explained how the service had benefited the company and its employees.
The process took just five minutes; employees could walk to the booth, have the test, and be back ready to work in a short time frame. The results are then sent to the person through the NHS app within an hour.
This is far quicker than the usual PCR tests, swabs of the nose and throat, which are sent to a lab for assessment.
Andy said: "[sic] If I was to offer it up as a recommendation, absolutely. If any business is out there were looking down the path, I'd highly recommend getting that testing facility in place."
Lateral flow tests have come under scrutiny recently. These tests, which do not need to be processed in a lab, were used in the rapid testing pilot in Liverpool.
Jon Deeks, professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, previously told Sky News that the tests in the Liverpool pilot “missed 60% of the cases which would have been picked up by PCR".
But the Government has said that more than 37,000 people with a symptomless COVID-19 have been detected by rapid lateral flow tests.
Dr Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser for NHS Test and Trace, said: "We are rolling out lateral flow devices throughout the country through community testing sites and also in workplaces to allow people to get tested where they are asymptomatic to reduce the spread of disease.
“We’ve detected more than 37,000 individuals through lateral flow tests over the last number of weeks and we will continue to roll them out rapidly as an additional tool to help get this virus under control.”
These tests are also being used to test asymptomatic key workers in a new centre at the Milton Keynes Library.
