SCIENTISTS at the University of Sunderland are volunteering their skills to help with coronavirus testing of patients and key workers.

Senior lecturers in biomedical science, healthcare science and virology, Michelle Payne and Rachel Turnbull, are drawing on their years of professional experience and doing all they can to contribute to the national effort against the Covid 19 outbreak.

Alongside their own academic commitments, both are testing in-patients and staff with signs of Covid-19 at hospitals in Newcastle and Teesside, as well as providing back-up for the under-pressure service and helping to support workloads.

Michelle and Rachel are registered with the Heath & Care Professions Council (HCPC) which means they meet requirements and standards of practice that allows them to get started on the front line straight away with the testing process.

Michelle said: “There was no hesitation, I knew my colleagues in the NHS would be facing pressures from this pandemic and immediately volunteered to help. Our NHS holds a special place in my heart, it’s my training and background, and that desire to make a difference to patient care drives me forward.”

Rachel said: “This coronavirus is unique, it’s a different strain that we’ve not been prepared for and still don’t have as much knowledge as we would like. It’s ever-evolving as research continues to study it, as a virologist the key thing is to help in the management of the pandemic.”

Both academics believe as well as raising awareness of the important work laboratories do, potentially there could be an increased awareness in the future of personal hygiene and in mechanisms of transmission of viral infections.

Rachel explained: “We have seen a number of emerging viruses in the last two decades, it’s nothing new – such as Zika and Ebola, but we haven’t seen something on this scale in this country, and for that reason I think people will begin to develop a broader level of knowledge of viral infections and transmissions, infection control and personal hygiene, from that, we might change our habits.

“Alongside this, a lot of people don’t know what a pathology lab is for, why it exists and how key it is into patient management. Hopefully there will be a wider awareness of its function and how important these labs are, which is a good thing.”

Michelle added: “It used to be the perception that these were the backroom NHS jobs that no one really knew much about. But among the fantastic work of the doctors and nurses, there are over 22,000 HCPC registered Biomedical Scientists doing incredible work and we want to raise the profile of the crucial role they play in fighting this disease.”