RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Experience of a novel community testing programme for COVID-19 in London: Lessons learnt JF Clinical Medicine JO Clin Med FD Royal College of Physicians SP e165 OP e169 DO 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0436 VO 20 IS 5 A1 Wallis, Gabriel A1 Siracusa, Francesca A1 Blank, Michael A1 Painter, Helena A1 Sanchez, Javier A1 Salinas, Kelcy A1 Mamuyac, Cherifer A1 Marudamuthu, Cindy A1 Wrigley, Fenella A1 Corrah, Tumena A1 Rampling, Tommy A1 Logan, Sarah A1 Goodman, Anna A1 Miller, Deborah A1 Williams, Bhanu A1 McGregor, Alastair A1 Parris, Victoria A1 Sandhu, Gurjinder A1 John, Laurence A1 Papineni, Padmasayee A1 Whittington, Ashley YR 2020 UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/20/5/e165.abstract AB We describe the London community testing programme developed for COVID-19, audit its effectiveness and report patient acceptability and patient adherence to isolation guidance, based upon a survey conducted with participants.Any patients meeting the Public Health England (PHE) case definition for COVID-19 who did not require hospital admission were eligible for community testing. 2,053 patients with suspected COVID-19 were tested in the community between January and March 2020. Of those tested, 75 (3.6%) were positive. 88% of patients that completed a patient survey felt safe and 82% agreed that community testing was preferable to hospital admission. 97% were able to remain within their own home during the isolation period but just 41% were able to reliably isolate from other members of their household.The London community testing programme allowed widespread testing for COVID-19 while minimising patient transport, hospital admissions and staff exposures. Community testing was acceptable to patients and preferable to admission to hospital. Patients were able to reliably isolate in their home but not from household contacts. The authors believe in the importance, feasibility and acceptability of community testing for COVID-19 as a part of a package of interventions to mitigate a second wave of infection.