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Download AudioWhānau Ora providers intend to leapfrog from RATS to spit.
Waipareira chief executive John Tamihere says the New Zealand-developed saliva testing which has been piloted at the west Auckland social service provider will be deployed through the rest of the network in the coming months.
It comes as millions of rapid antigen tests have started arriving in the country, but there is still debate about how and where they will be deployed.
Mr Tamihere says the saliva tests are far better than rapid antigen tests and far more patient-friendly than the highly-invasive PCT tests, particularly when it involves getting up the noses of its frontline workers several times a week.
“You’ll start to see us roll that out. It won’t be a problem and it’s got anything to do with Bloomfield and his mates, so we’re pretty happy with how we’re rolling them out. Waipareira is the incubator. We’ve worked it through in all our systems and it will be deployed elsewhere over the next 30 to 90 days”, he says.
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