Coronavirus drive-in testing a boon for hospitals and GP clinics

A drive-through service allows people to be swabbed for the coronavirus from the comfort of their car.

The first patient to use the new drive-through coronavirus test station is checked by a nurse at the Repatriation Hospital in Daw Park, Adelaide. Picture: AAP

A mothballed Adelaide hospital is literally driving one of the smartest innovations in the fraught world of coronavirus testing — a drive-through service where people are swabbed for the virus from the comfort of their car.

In a first for an Australian hospital, the five-minute drive-through coronavirus service was launched at the old Repatriation Hospital in Adelaide on Tuesday. It is a simple idea that achieves plenty — it is quicker and easier for patients, safer for nurses and pathology staff and relieves pressure on hospitals and GP clinics.

In a city where drive-throughs are normally associated with having a slab of beer slipped through your passenger window, the first visitor at the Repat was a young man who had his mouth and nose swabbed by nurses wearing protective gear to guard against the virus.

It’s not a free-for-all, though: South Australians cannot just turn up on a whim to see whether they have the virus, but need a letter from their GP confirming there is a suspicion they might be infected.

“You will need to have a GP complete a pathology request form and we are taking bookings for that service,” SA chief medical officer Nicola Spurrier said on Tuesday.

“It means people don’t have to get out of their car; they can have they swabs taken easily.”

Dr Spurrier said the advantage of the drive-through service was that “people don’t necessarily have to see a GP face to face” to obtain a referral. “Doctors are used to faxing and emailing referral forms through to patients.”

The drive-through is equipped to test six people an hour, nine hours a day, and will continue to operate for as long as necessary.

“We only want to be testing the people who need to be tested,” Dr Spurrier said. “The people we are wanting to have tested are those who have symptoms that are compatible but also have a travel history.”