URGENT INFORMATION FOR ALL KEYWORKERS and RESIDENTS about CORONA VIRUS TESTING
filed in Community, News on 22 Jun 2020
Hounslow will be hosting a Mobile Testing Unit for coronavirus testing for keyworkers and residents at Grasshoppers’ Rugby Club, Osterley, on Tuesday 23rd June and Wednesday 24th June 2020.
Mobile Testing Units are an essential part of the national testing programme as they offer pedestrian appointments as well as drive-through appointments.
You must register via the gov.uk portal before attending a mobile testing unit, and bring your 16-digit code or appointment confirmation with you on your mobile phone.
Testing site location:
Grasshoppers Rugby Club, Syon Lane, Osterley, Isleworth, TW7 5PN
Criteria for testing if you are a KEYWORKER
You can use this testing facility if you are:
- an essential worker
- live with an essential worker
If you are an essential worker in the NHS or social care you can be tested with or without symptoms. Regular testing is important for staff to prevent outbreaks of coronavirus among vulnerable residents.
If you are an essential worker, but not in the NHS or social care, you can get tested if you are within the first five days of coronavirus symptoms.
Coronavirus symptoms are:
- a high temperature
- a new, continuous cough
- a loss of or change to your sense of smell or taste
Criteria for testing of RESIDENTS
Anyone over the age of 5 who is symptomatic is now able to receive a test at one of the testing centres. You should be within the first 5 days of symptoms when you have your test, as otherwise it is not effective.
Coronavirus symptoms are:
- a high temperature
- a new, continuous cough
- a loss of or change to your sense of smell or taste
This test can tell you if you have coronavirus at the time the swab sample is taken. The test to tell if you’ve ever had coronavirus (‘antibody test’) is not available yet.
The information on certain pages on the gov.uk website may contradict this. This has been flagged to the national team operating the website. Please be assured that the criteria listed above are the most up to date and correct for testing.
Book an appointment:
Appointments are open for both Tuesday and Wednesday at Grasshoppers’ Mobile Testing Unit from 8pm on Monday 22nd June via the gov.uk link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested
If you would like a pedestrian appointment at the Mobile Testing Unit, please put “unknown” in the box requiring your vehicle registration number. This should allow you to continue the booking process.
If you have any problems refer to the helpline detailed below, or you can use the 16-digit authorisation code that is sent you via SMS and go to the testing centre anytime on foot or in a car between 10.30 and 15.30 where local authority staff will help you. Please do not take public transport.
The testing centre will be operating between 10.30-15.30 on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Alternative testing provision
Please note that if an appointment is not available at the Grasshoppers’ site, then the same testing criteria apply for bookings at the Twickenham testing site and they operate 7 days a week. They do however only offer drive-in appointments.
There are also home testing kits available, bookable via the same self-service portal on the gov.uk website.
Questions or problems
If anyone has any problems booking via the portal, please contact the National Coronavirus Testing Helpline on 0300 303 2713
Capacity for testing is limited so is released on an hourly basis; it is recommended to try at regular intervals to access an appointment.
If you have any questions about testing, please contact publichealth@hounslow.gov.uk
Response to the Terrorist Attack
filed in Statement on 22 Jun 2020
Hounslow Friends of Faith endorse the following statement:
Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected by the terrorist stabbing attack in Reading on Saturday, in which three people were killed by the attacker and others injured, including those who responded to it with such bravery.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms terrorism and extremist ideologies that underpin it.
Let us stand together in resolute resistance to such murderous acts and in solidarity with those who are affected by them.
This weekend is one on which the murder by another violent extremist four years ago of the late Jo Cox MP is remembered. Her words, ‘We have more in common than that which divides us’, have been at the heart of that remembering and have great resonance.
On all that we hold in common, and appreciating also our diversity, let us continue to work together with courage and commitment to develop and strengthen our shared society in ways rooted in, and characterised by, our shared values such as justice, compassion, pursuit of learning and wisdom, respect, and peace.
We close as we began, holding in our thoughts and prayers all those affected by yesterday’s attack.
A statement on behalf of the Board and the Moderators of the Faith Communities Forum of the Inter Faith Network for the UK
#Blacklivesmatter
filed in Community, News on 04 Jun 2020
Councillor Katherine Dunne, Cabinet Member for Communities and Climate Emergency at Hounslow Council, published this statement on Tuesday 2nd June:
“We are deeply saddened and angered by the death of George Floyd and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
For this reason we will be lighting up Hounslow House in purple this evening (Tuesday 2 June) to stand in solidarity with black people in the US, the UK and around the world.
It is incumbent on all of us to stand up to discrimination, violence, racism and injustice and to declare that Black Lives Matter.”
Act of Committment
filed in Community on 04 Jun 2020
At the turn of the Millennium the faith communities of the UK developed this Act of Commitment. The interfaith group, Hounslow Friends of Faith, continues to share and commit to the same aims.
The Act of Commitment
In a world scarred by the evils of war,
racism, injustice and poverty,
we offer this joint Act of Commitment as we
look to our shared future.
We commit ourselves,
as people of many faiths,
to work together
for the common good,
uniting to build a better society,
grounded in values and ideals we share:
community,
personal integrity,
a sense of right and wrong,
learning, wisdom and love of truth,
care and compassion,
justice and peace,
respect for one another,
for the earth and its creatures.
We commit ourselves,
in a spirit of friendship and co-operation,
to work together
alongside all who share our values and ideals,
to help bring about a better world
now and for generations to come.