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Here at Appleton Woods, we have decided to do all we can to put our staff and colleagues minds at ease and protect our customers by starting a programme of antibody testing.

Managing Director Chris Brown says: “Despite no definitive evidence of past exposure and antibody presence offering long term immunity being released yet I feel it is important to be seen to protect our staff to the best of our ability and ensure the office environment we ask our staff to operate in is as low risk as possible. Our hope is they feel comfortable coming to work and can operate to full capacity and productivity. We have seen a very positive reaction from the staff who have decided to participate and I am pleased we have access to a kit of sufficient quality and accuracy to make testing worthwhile”

Appleton Woods are very proud to use and distribute the Siemens endorsed Aria antibody POC kit. The test detects COVID IgG and IgM in blood samples in less than 15 mins and is incredibly easy to use for a qualified professional.

The strong Siemens brand name and scientific analysis of the kit has given us the confidence to bring the product into our expanding range and test our own staff. In the Norwegian Public Health study where 17 different POC antibody test kits were independently evaluated this kit performed in the top 3 and was recommended for its ease of use and on its performance based on the specificity* and sensitivity** to detect COVID in populations of low prevalence. You can read the complete, independent study here – the Siemens kit is test number 16.

Knowing the past COVID infection status of your staff could increase capacity of your workforce in the workplace potentially improving productivity, reduce some PPE costs and even alleviate the restrictions of the 2m social distancing guidelines down to the 1m plus rule. The major benefit, before we get any definitive data on immunity, is the kit potentially puts staff at ease to see testing being performed routinely at work or at least know that staff they work alongside have been tested.

The main benefits of the antibody test are:

• Independent evaluation highlights the performance of the kit based on sensitivity and specificity
• Easy to use
• Quick to give a result (<15 mins)
• Very affordable (~£25 excl VAT a test)
• Can be stored at ambient temperature and has 12 months plus expiry date so no special storage conditions needed
• Is for professional use only – so needs to be carried out by a trained operative – occupational health.

If you would like to test your own staff please contact our Product Specialist, Dr Stewart Sale (stewart.sale@appletonwoods.co.uk) or purchase your pack of 25 kits here

*Specificity is the proportion of people WITHOUT past COVID infection that have a NEGATIVE antibody test.

**Sensitivity is the proportion of people WITH past COVID infection that have a POSITIVE antibody test.

This kit has a specificity of 97.8% and a sensitivity of 97.1% for IgG.  The independent study showed an 100% specificity and 92% sensitivity.