AIBU to tell you how shambolic my experience has been trying to get a covid test...

[Shiningstar84]

I'm a teacher and have been back in work around 3 weeks. I've come down with a heavy cold and a cough. Been off since Wednesday
Timeline is as follows:
Tuesday night- Tried to get a test- none available
Wednesday - Got a test local to me- just 6 miles according to the booking. Went to the test site, the main and only road to it completely closed off with signs and cones not letting me past. Tried calling the 'help'line- hour on the phone and missed my appointment.
Thursday- Nearest test site 100 miles away but miraculously got a home test kit booked at 8am- horray
Friday- Home test kit showed at 5pm- after the last post of the day near me
Saturday- Got up early to register the test, take the test and get it to the post office. Registration kept coming up as an error online- lots of people reporting the same, the site is completely down and not working. I missed the last post of the day
Sunday- can't do home test as no post, and it would be null and void as over 4 days since symptoms started. Managed to get a test 40 miles away at 7.30pm

Now I wait for results which could be 48hours. I've already lost precious teaching time with my a-level students and although I've been teaching remotely it just isn't the same. I also have my toddler son at home with me as I obviously can't send him back to nursery- making teaching very difficult.
It's September FFS and these are the issues I and many others are having.

@Polnm

If you are a teacher then haven’t you been given details of somewhere you can go? isn’t that national ?

My husband is a teacher. His school applied for a priority registration for him. It made absolutely no difference whatsoever. There are no tests.

Same problem in this area.it was on th bbc . The government apologised. Down to problem at labs.

9 miles so 18 round trip - 51 hours processing time - lost 3 days.
Consider myself lucky at this point in time. Good luck to all of you

Been trying for 2 days and no tests here.

The whole thing is going to spread like wildfire because while I will be responsible (and am lucky to be able to) plenty will just send their kids to school or partners to work or even go to work themselves as they cannot afford to wait 14 days.

I REALLY HATE THIS GOVERNMENT.

I hear from a good source it's Lab testing capacity and I beleive it may be some greif between some labs and the goverment.

A runny nose is i hear from a medic reasearcher not a typical covid-19 sympton. Of course not an absolute indicator but a bit of one..

I REALLY HATE THIS GOVERNMENT.

Understandable, any other any better do you know?.

@Polnm

If you are a teacher then haven’t you been given details of somewhere you can go? isn’t that national ?

Yeah, and despite there being a 'priority' test centre in my city I was offered a test 180 miles away (this was a couple of weeks ago so I did manage to get a home one).

Understandable, any other any better do you know?.

New Zealand. Don't think they'd let us in right now though.

China are doing much better in terms of testing. Obviously a little worse on minor things like human rights issues!

But it's not just the shambolic mess that makes me hate the Government. It's the lies and the rhetoric and the arrogance.

^^This
Oh, and also Germany is doing quite a bit better. Most European countries, actually.
But mostly it's the lies and treating us like idiot oiks.

My DD has a cold, as most of her class mates do. But my DD has an asthmatic cough that is only ever triggered when she has a cold.

I spent 3 hours this morning constantly refreshing the book a test web page and finally got her booked at a test site 50 miles away. We've done a 100 miles round trip this evening when there is a test centre 3 miles from our house that has been empty all day, but you can't rock up to your local test centre with your booking code as they stopped that on Thursday.

I had a test back in July - couldn't actually order one until 3 days into symptoms. Arrived late on the Wednesday, couldn't order pick up for the Thursday, picked up late on the Friday, was delivered to the testing site late on the Friday night, according to the RM tracking.

I'm still waiting for the result.

This whole situation is bollocks. DS has a bit of a cold and I’ve had a very mild temperature, a funny stomach and I feel a bit rough. It’s probably just back to school virus. Unless we can get tests to prove one way or another if it’s covid we’re carrying on as normal if we’re well enough. There’s no way I’m keeping DS off for two weeks for what is probably a cold.

I will probably struggle to get a test because: 1, I have no transport to get to a test centre; 2, there aren’t any tests anyway; 3 I can’t do a home test because I’m blind; 4, I can’t book a test online because I can’t do the recapture thing using a screen reader.

If either of us feel worse tomorrow I’ll try to get a test somehow. If I can’t we go back to normal as soon as we’re able.

Those who have managed to get a test booked - did you have an email confirmation?

This evening on the website I went through to booking the test time at the drive in test centre, entering my car reg etc. but haven’t had any confirmation through and just wondering whether it actually worked!

Yes you need the QR code

I also couldn't register my tests when I received them on Wednesday, rang the helpline as advised and was only on hold for about 15 minutes before I got through and the lady registered them for me. Posted Weds morning and received results Sat pm.

Yep, it’s a shambles. People are just going to start ignoring the rules- of course you can’t hide a cough but I bet people will send siblings in and partners will go to work, rather than all self isolating, because it’s just too much time having to have off work. And children with temps will get Calpoled up and sent in. The system needs to work much better if the government really want people to test and isolate until getting results.

What an absolute shambles. In comparison, I’m in Sydney and we have had to test once as my children had a mild cold and we are also supposed to test with even the mildest symptoms here.
Looked online for test centres near me, there were about 5/6 within a 15-30 minute drive. You can either just turn up with no appointment (which we did) or get a (phone) GP referral and then go to a drive through testing station.
We turned up, waited for 30 minutes and then had the test. Results texted to us in 48 hours.
If you do the drive through option it’s often results back in 24 hours.
When we have an uptick of cases they open additional pop up test facilities in the hot spot areas.
I know we are a smaller population but there are still a few million of us in Sydney and I’m almost certain that the ability to test quickly and easily is why we have kept numbers so low.

I can empathise. It really is a shambles. I had similar issues with my son last week. He is in Year 13 and missing more school was the last thing I wanted for him. He is asthmatic and coughs a lot when he has a cold so I was fairly confident that's all it was, but obviously couldn't take the risk of sending him to school. But I couldn't get a test anywhere for ages. Despite having spaces the nearest walk in centre won't take under 18s. Fortunately we got sorted eventually and the test was negative but I got the impression that the system is falling apart already, and its only going to get worse.
I think they really need to prioritise testing school staff and pupils. Having schools open must be one of the biggest risks the government is taking regarding Covid-19. It is nigh on impossible to keep schools Covid secure as it is, and if they want people to stick to the rules they really need to make testing quick and easy.

I'm a teacher and have experienced similar.

I started coughing at work on Monday and was sent home.

I spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday morning trying to get any sort of test - no walk in, drive through or postal tests available.

In order to establish that there aren't any, you have to go through the process of entering details and answering questions, which I must have done hundreds of times.

Lunchtime Tuesday I was offered a drive-through test a four-hour drive away (8 hour round trip) which I didn't take.

Mid-afternoon on Tuesday I got a postal test.

It arrived at 8pm on Wednesday so id missed the post.

Posted it Thursday. Still waiting for the results on Monday morning.

I rang the helpline yesterday. I was on hold for 90 minutes to be told that they had it, but that they weren't able to see how far through the process I was.

So, seven days after falling ill, and missing my sixth day of school.

Not to mention that, if it's positive, everyone I've been in contact with, including my colleague and class, are carrying on whilst potentially infected and spreading it.

It's quite obvious that testing has collapsed since schools went back and demand increased but surely that was forseen? What happens when universities go back?

Schools will be forced to close if they haven't got enough staff to open safely.

There is a massive backlog in getting tests processed. Part of tge problem is that the govt have out sourced to Germany and Italy.

I think the govt need to be more specific on symptoms that need tested. A continuous cough and a temperature are far too vague. I also think there needs to be some kind of training for schools/nurseries etc as they are in cases forcing tests that are not appropriate or needed.

If it carries on this way there will be no tests and ppl will be enforced to isolate. We're screwed.

A runny nose is i hear from a medic reasearcher not a typical covid-19 sympton. Of course not an absolute indicator but a bit of one..

I think what a lot of people are describing are cold symptoms, and panicking and thinking they have coronavirus. There are a lot of bugs going around ATM. I'm in retail and we've all had something or other in the last few weeks. There was sore throat thing going around, but it only a day and colds are common anyway

Not saying people shouldn't get tested, but a lot of it is probably not covid, at the moment at least

I was going to say the same Flaxmeadow - schoolkids with colds blocking the system.

Straven123

Reading this thread a lot of posters are saying "we/they have a cold" but then saying they want a covid test

But why would someone want a covid test for a cold?

What an absolute shambles . It was surely obvious that come the Autumn , back to school , University etc that Covid type symptoms would be rife and I’ll wager the majority would test negative if they could acces a timely test and result so family units can keep functioning .

"But it's not just the shambolic mess that makes me hate the Government. It's the lies and the rhetoric and the arrogance."
^this

A lot of coughs and temperatures are probably cold and winter bug related, but some won't be. With schools open, these chains could spread like wildfire. As a country, we already have one of the narrowest lists of symptoms to test for - we don't even officially acknowledge all the other symptoms, or the fact that the virus often presents differently in kids. It is beyond disgraceful that we can't test.