Is anyone able to get a covid test?

[MelrosePlace]

My son has what I believe to be a seasonal bug but the school wants him to get a test because his fever is above 39. We are in west London and I’ve been trying since yesterday to get one but it just keeps saying “This service is currently busy.” Anyone else having better luck?

You have to sit and constantly refresh that page. Took me about 3 hrs Then suddenly allows you to move on. They say they are released at certain times, but all seems very random. Keep going this morning from 8-10am.

I think someone said the are released at 8am and 8pm? Seems very odd since the government keeps banging on about testing if it's difficult to get hold of!

Thanks for the tips. I totally agree @Frownette. If we can’t get a test am I supposed to just keep him home for two weeks??

I posted another thread about whether to keep his brother home from school. (Sorry to be repetitive but it felt like a different question.). What’s the right thing to do there?

Are you able to even get in to the system so that you can constantly refresh? I couldn't even get to that point until I put in a Scottish postcode... Then it offered me an appointment in Durham, and then I was able to change it to my own post code and it offered me appointments slightly closer to home.

I was able to get to where I could enter our info for a home test. It said I could add up to three family members but I didn’t add anyone. Then you are meant to click “Save and Continue” but the link doesn’t seem to work. I will keep clicking!

That’s interesting @Tyranttoddler. How far did you have to drive? I can’t really go farther than 90 min or so away but I’m wondering if it’s worth trying to do what you did. It can’t hurt to try I guess!

Just keep refreshing. There were loads available in Croydon and Twickenham yesterday, and I eventually got the tests at home option. Took about half an hour of sporadically refreshing.

I'm in SW London and can't get a test either

It seems to really differ by area. I tentatively thought yesterday about getting a test as I had a bug, which I thought was probably not COVID, but the irony of this was that even though I live opposite a major hospital I couldn't get one!

@MelrosePlace keep persisting. Must be frustrating.

I know this is in chat but if you post/look in the corona topic there's a multitude of threads about getting tests with various tips

Tests are now allocated on a priority system, you won't necessarily have the same experience as anyone else

Keep trying - it took us 5 hours to get one the other day. (And remember to fill in the feedback request about what you think of the shower of shit as well)

Thanks for the info. I don’t know why I didn’t post this on the coronavirus topic. I forgot it existed. I will check there now.

We got one (Surrey area) on Saturday night for Sunday morning. Checked just after 8pm and kept refreshing. They seemed to upload the sites and tell you how many slots there are, but you have to keep refreshing/changing from walkthru to drivethru until the individual timeslots actually appear. When we tried the week before there was nothing at all.