Chris Minns will shut down all 165 Covid mass testing clinics in NSW after realising they are costing millions and few are using them.
Australians are paying top dollar to keep the PCR test sites open three years after the pandemic began despite sluggish demand.
Maintaining 88 drive-through and 77 walk-in clinics across NSW alone costs taxpayers millions, but NSW Health has refused to reveal exactly how much.
Newly-elected NSW premier Mr Minns swiftly moved to scrap them less than 48 hours after Daily Mail Australia revealed how underused they were.
He confirmed the PCR test system would be radically overhauled within the next four weeks to only conducts tests through pathology clinics.
‘I want to thank all of the healthcare staff who have worked tirelessly in testing clinics across the state to help keep the community safe during the pandemic,’ Health Minister Ryan Park told Daily Mail Australia.
Bored staff at the Maroubra clinic, in Sydney’s east, fiddle with their phones, call friends, and put their feet up – grateful to have something to do when a patient arrives
Premier Chris Minns said ‘the time has come to close down those temporary PCR testing facilities’
‘However, since January we’ve seen a significant reduction in demand for PCR testing driven by changes in health recommendations, testing behaviour, and increased access to rapid antigen tests.
‘Over the next few weeks, we will be transitioning to a new model of Covid testing to support the current and future needs of the community.
‘Our priority will be to ensure those at greater risk of severe Covid continue to be effectively diagnosed in a timely manner – as well as to ensure they have access to antiviral therapies.
‘To that end, PCR testing requested by a medical or nurse practitioner would continue to be available at pathology collection centres, funded through the Medicare Benefits Scheme.’
The new regime will force NSW residents to get a GP referral should they feel the need for a PCR test, instead of just showing up at a clinic.
Once they get the referral, which could be obtained through telehealth, they will need to front up to a pathology lab in a mask and get their Covid test.
This test would only be free for those in a ‘vulnerable group’, with others encouraged to rely on rapid tests.
Anyone else who needed a PCR for travel or other reasons would need to fork out hundreds of dollars for a test and certificate.
What other states will do with their deserted clinics remains unclear.
Victoria, the hardest-hit state by the pandemic, only has 13 drive-through clinics left but more walk-in sites than NSW.
Workers at Histopath Pathology drive-through clinic in Merrylands, Sydney amuse themselves waiting for patients to arrive
A once-bustling Covid drive-through testing clinic in Maroubra is now empty with less than 100 showing up a day
Mr Minns said the time had come to close down the PCR mass testing facilities, which were supposed to be temporary.
‘They’re temporary facilities. They’re not meant to be permanent,’ he said on Tuesday while mulling over what to do about them.
‘We travelled past one on the way to come to this press conference in Fairfield and it was empty.’
He admitted ‘a lot of money’ was being spent on maintaining the testing centres, which were largely no longer required as pandemic-related restrictions were wound back, he said.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said earlier on Tuesday said the government had been prompted to review the clinics and their viability now that the huge queues and maddening waits of two years ago have long gone.
Instead, bored staff now fiddle with their phones and put their feet up, waiting patiently for someone – anyone – to turn up and get a swab.
A health worker sits waiting for someone to arrive for testing in Brighton-Le-Sands, Sydney
A patient rolls up for a PCR test, finally giving the worker something to do
At the height of the outbreak, the specialist drive-through and walk-in PCR test sites had queues hours long – now anything more than 100 people would be a busy day.
Huge white shelters are still planted in car parks as cars trickle through, rarely encountering a delay before a medical worker walks up.
The rest of the time, two or three bored staff watch their phones or call friends – grateful to have something to do when a patient arrives.
Mr Mookhey said he drove past the testing site Maroubra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and ‘there was no one there’.
Staff at that clinic told Daily Mail Australia they usually had 50 to 100 show up a day during the 7am to 4pm opening hours, with about 95 on Wednesday.
Unlike during the Omicron outbreak, when there was no lockdown but plenty of cases, there was no pre- and post-work rush.
‘They just come one at a time, or sometimes a few – it’s really random. There’s fewer today, maybe 50-something so far,’ one said at lunch on Thursday.
The turn up today is a far cry from the height of the pandemic when there were hours long waits (a drive-in clinic in Sydney’s pictured during the height of the Covid crisis)
A nurse is pictured preparing a PCR test for passengers departing Sydney Airport during the height of the Covid pandemic
Mr Mookhey said NSW Health advised demand was obviously not as strong as it once was.
‘We’re putting them through some strict scrutiny now, we’re getting the health advice,’ he said on 2GB radio on Tuesday.
‘We have to make sure that every dollar the value is spending is getting value.’
The treasurer noted the government needed to make savings to fix an almost $80 billion budget hole, and more nurses were needed in hospitals.
Another clinic in southern Sydney had four cars arrive in the space of half an hour, with a worker saying there was usually less than 100 a day.
‘It’s not many compared to what it used to be,’ staff said, having conducted 40 to 50 tests by early Thursday afternoon.
The Merrylands clinic is completely empty with only the occasional trickle of people arriving for testing
Staff at Covid test clinics had no idea how long they would continue operating
NSW Health stopped counting tests in its weekly updates after February 3, when there were 41,747 combined PCR and rapid tests over the previous week.
How many were conducted at testing sites is not known and NSW Health failed to provide the figure when asked by Daily Mail Australia.
Senior ministerial staffers are understood to be surprised so many of the clinics are still operating more than three years after the pandemic began.
The previous government shut down many of them last October, but left the current sites operating despite dwindling use.
At the height of the outbreak, the specialist drive-through and walk-in PCR test sites had queues hours long. Now they are white elephants
So few people come to this test site in Bankstown, western Sydney, that there are no staff at the front, having all retreated inside
4Cyte drive-through clinic in North Ryde, in Sydney’s north, has nothing but empty chairs
A well-placed source in the previous government said there was no reason to have the clinics open anymore and patients could get a PCR test at a GP or hospital.
‘We need the nurses elsewhere and they are costing us a fortune,’ they said.
The source said the clinics were only kept open because the Coalition feared political backlash from sections of the population ahead of the March 25 election.
Operation of the clinics is largely outsourced to private companies, but the staff are spending much of their day idle during a serious nursing shortage.
There is a forecast shortfall of 20,000 to 40,000 nursing positions by 2025 that the new government hopes it can fix with higher pay and a huge recruiting drive.
Anyone who fears they have contracted Covid will now need to visit a pathology lab after receiving a GP refereal
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