A project trialling the use of self-screening kiosks in Leicestershire workplaces to detect symptoms of COVID-19 has been launched by the University of Leicester through the Leicester Life Sciences Accelerator (LLSA) and the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre.
Staff can use the kiosk as they enter the site, and are alerted and advised to self-isolate if they are displaying any COVID-19 symptoms. The kiosks present users with a series of questions relating to COVID-19 symptoms including high temperature, new continuous cough and loss of taste or smell, and conducting a remote temperature check.
To ensure the technology is accessible to all employees, the team partnered with the Leicester Centre for BME Health to provide translated instructions in Urdu and Gujarati.
Professor Toru Suzuki, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Leicester and Honorary Consultant, Cardiology, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Director of the LLSA said:
“Ensuring employees are healthy when they come to work and preventing the virus from spreading across a workforce are key concerns for many employers across the Leicestershire region.
“By providing the technology for businesses to screen staff for COVID-19 symptoms, employers can continue to operate their workplaces safely whilst ensuring the health and wellbeing of their staff and protecting the city.
“The University of Leicester has played a leading role in pioneering COVID-19 research during the pandemic, and has worked hard to support businesses and the city – this initiative plays an important part in this work.”
Running in collaboration with Elephant Kiosks Ltd, who designed the COVID-19 kiosk, the project is being led by the University of Leicester’s LLSA.
Annette Walker, Managing Director at Elephant Kiosks said:
“At Elephant Kiosks our focus has been on developing integrated accessible health screening for individuals either in health settings or in the community. Data from this screening can then be used by people to manage their health or prompt professionals to engage in further tests.
“We were approached by Leicester to collaborate on the project to adapt our ‘tried and tested’ health kiosks for COVID-19 screening in the workplace.
“We were genuinely pleased and excited to get involved at an early stage; if our kiosks are able to support workplaces in being COVID-19 safe and managing health and safety for employees then we regard this as a very positive purpose for our products.”
The LLSA delivers free innovation support to Leicestershire life sciences SME’s to increase knowledge exchange between clinicians, academics and local companies has been developed in partnership with the Midland Engine and is part funded by the European Regional Development fund.
Supporting the Leicestershire business community forms part of the work undertaken by the University of Leicester led COVID-19 taskforce project, and the LLEP-led COVID recovery plan to help businesses to operate safely and promote their economic sustainability.
Jack Masters Ltd are knitwear manufacturer and are one of the Leicestershire companies taking part in the pilot.
Jenny Billington from Jack Masters Ltd said:
“We at Jack Masters were happy to help out the University with this project: it was something we had been looking to do for ourselves since COVID-19 hit.
“We wanted a better way to monitor our staff’s temperatures and ensure that everyone was not showing symptoms as they came into work, and then Elephant came along with a ready-made solution.
“We found the kiosk very easy to use, and our Gujarati staff greatly appreciated the option to have it shown in their native language. Our less tech savvy staff struggled to begin with, but with a couple of quick lessons, everyone got the hang of it without too much difficulty.”
Supporting the Leicestershire business community forms part of the work undertaken by the University of Leicester led COVID-19 taskforce project, and the LLEP-led COVID recovery plan to help businesses to operate safely and promote their economic sustainability.
ENDS