Primary care and point-of-care testing during a pandemic: Clinician’s perspectives on integrating rapid testing for COVID-19 into the primary care pathway

Background Real-world evidence to support the adoption of SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care (POC) tests in primary care is limited. As the first point of contact of the health system for most patients, POC testing can potentially support general practitioners (GPs) quickly identify infectious and non-infectious individuals to rapidly inform patient triaging, clinical management, and safely restore more in-person services. Objectives To explore the potential role of SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care testing in primary care services. Design A qualitative study using an inductive thematic analysis. Setting 21 general practices located across three regions in England. Results Three major themes were identified related to POC test implementation in primary care: (1) Insights into SARS-CoV-2 POC tests; (2) System and organisational factors; and (3) Practice-level service delivery strategies. Thematic subcategories included involvement in rapid testing, knowledge and perception of the current POC testing landscape, capacity for testing, economic concerns, resource necessities, perception of personal risk and safety, responsibility for administering the test, and targeted testing strategies. Conclusion GPs knowledge of POC tests influences their degree of trust, uncertainty, and their perception of risk of POC test use. Concerns around funding, occupational exposure, and workload play a crucial role in GPs hesitation to provide POC testing services. These concerns could potentially be addressed with government funding, the use of targeted testing, and improved triaging strategies to limit testing to essential patient cohorts.