To wonder why 100 people would go to A&E for covid tests?!

[TableFlowerss]

Just heard on the news. I could understand 1/2 people thinking it might be a good idea but 100 people wandering to A&E to try and get tests??!

What on earth are people thinking? And folk wonder why it’s spreading like wildfire when so many people clearly though that was a good idea....🙈🙈🙈

People are desperate. They are told they can’t go to work, go to school with symptoms and to get a test. They can’t get a test, so out of fear they do the last possible thing and go to A&E.
If the kids can’t go to school, the parent can’t go to work, the rent doesn’t get paid, the food doesn’t get bought. Its a nightmare.
So many people are only 1 pay packet from poverty, from homelessness.
Have a heart.

Maybe they Really need a test so that (hoping it's negative) they can go back to work and earn money for them and their families. In some areas it's impossible to get a test. People have been trying for days.

Maybe you could not call them numpties and make a tiny effort to consider others may be in a very different situation from yours.

I've been a nurse in various A&Es for almost 20yrs, compared to some things that people attend for, covid testing is sensible. Broken nails, hangovers and papercuts not so sensible....

Desperation? Why can’t people in a hotspot get tests?

@Pepperwort

Desperation? Why can’t people in a hotspot get tests?

Watch the news, there are little to no testing slots available. The system has collapsed and we aren’t even in peak season yet !

Desperation.
My workplace will not pay if we are isolating. That's half a months wages, gone. If you are already on the breadline, this will push you over.

RubyViolet it was a way of expressing dismay and disgust by this whole fiasco. I am watching the news, worrying in case I need to get one, and being grateful I’m not in a hotspot. And being plain shocked at Britain’s degeneration.

I can see how it might have read as the same question as the op though.

@RubyViolet

People are desperate. They are told they can’t go to work, go to school with symptoms and to get a test. They can’t get a test, so out of fear they do the last possible thing and go to A&E. If the kids can’t go to school, the parent can’t go to work, the rent doesn’t get paid, the food doesn’t get bought. Its a nightmare. So many people are only 1 pay packet from poverty, from homelessness. Have a heart.

It’s not about having a heart, it’s common sense!! It’s shit fir everyone you know!

So you’d just quietly sit at home and pack your things to make it easier for the bailiffs to throw out on the pavement would you op?

@Pepperwort

So you’d just quietly sit at home and pack your things to make it easier for the bailiffs to throw out on the pavement would you op?

How many times..... A&E DONT DO COVID TESTS- therefore it’s utterly pointless!!!

Its because of disgracefully poor government messaging once again.
When Starmer asked Boris last week what was going on with the abysmal testing situation, Boris accused him of "attacking the NHS".
Test and trace is actually nothing to do with the NHS (INCLUDING A&E DEPARTMENTS). It is run by a separate private sector enterprise headed up by Deloittes. The results are not even shared with local GPS AFTER or hospitals.
After 6 months it is baffling that this is still not understood and due entirely to an opaque and dishonest government.

They are going as they have symptoms and can't get a test. We have an outbreak at our school and the whole class and any other close contacts are now out form 14 days...utter shite

@Pepperwort

RubyViolet it was a way of expressing dismay and disgust by this whole fiasco. I am watching the news, worrying in case I need to get one, and being grateful I’m not in a hotspot. And being plain shocked at Britain’s degeneration.

It’s awful isn’t it. This government doesn’t care and doesn’t know what they are doing. No wonder people are going slightly doolally. 😩

Desperate people do desperate things. They might not be thinking logically.

To wonder why 100 people would go to A&E for covid tests?!
Because not all people read the DM or are on mumsnet.

It’s not even about whether people think they can get a test at A&E, it’s about people trying everything they can. Desperation doesn’t follow logic. OP, the fact you’re still applying logic shows you’re not as desperate as these people. It’s not stupidity. It’s doing everything they possibly can. And it doesn’t take a lot of personal life experience to know that physically standing in front of someone can make a real difference a lot of the time. Also, worth suggesting that if enough people rock up at A&E asking for tests, perhaps the geniuses organising the fiasco so far may start getting A&E departments to administer tests. I refuse to believe there isn’t a safe way to make that happen.

Some of them will be the key workers everyone was clapping for. Now they are "numpties" Clap for key workers has become crap on key workers!

Doing telephone triage this week have spoken to many parents of children with coughs and fevers, downplaying the symptoms “oh, I’m sure it’s just a cold, not covid” when if you rewind a year they’d all have been demanding antibiotics and insisting we were negligent for saying it was just a cold.

How times have changed?! But yes, hundreds and hundreds of calls this week from people with very mild symptoms and no evidence of any respiratory compromise, but obviously just calling on the off chance I’ve got a box of spare tests sat on my desk.

@BritneyS Bloody hell love, you’d be lucky to find an A&E dept safely staffed pre covid, never mind finding the man power to be running testing services.

I’m not surprised. I guess they don’t have the option of driving a 70 mile round trip to get a test when they’re not feeling well. And the general public doesn’t know that A&E don’t test so perhaps perceived as worth a shot.

@QueenOfPain not staffed by A&E staff, just in the vicinity of A&E. The same reason trusts open UCCs, GP triage and pharmacists in the vicinity of A&E depts; it’s all about the brand.

But yes, hundreds and hundreds of calls this week from people with very mild symptoms and no evidence of any respiratory compromise
See I think I’m confused about this and would assume most of the general public feel the same right now. We’re not being told to get a test when there is evidence of respiratory compromise and there is no guide on how severe symptoms need to be. Everything we’ve been told since March is that it doesn’t matter how mild one might get Covid, it’s who you could pass it on to. I’ve got a relentless dry cough (hence why I’m awake right now). No fever and I feel nothing more than general winter virus crappy. Your post suggests I need to carry on and not bother getting tested. The gov website clearly says because I’ve got one of the main symptoms so I need to get tested.

In your professional opinion, what do I do?

How many times..... A&E DONT DO COVID TESTS- therefore it’s utterly pointless!!!

So you know what they shouldn't do. What should they do? If you won't be paid this week or next without the test, you're already struggling with life, working long hours in a minimum wage job and barely making ends meet, your boss is telling you they don't care how difficult it , you can't come back without a test, even if no one really believes you've got "it", you've already lost 2 days' pay refreshing the NHS website every 2 hours, what would you do?

@SimpleComforts

How many times..... A&E DONT DO COVID TESTS- therefore it’s utterly pointless!!!

So you know what they shouldn't do. What should they do? If you won't be paid this week or next without the test, you're already struggling with life, working long hours in a minimum wage job and barely making ends meet, your boss is telling you they don't care how difficult it , you can't come back without a test, even if no one really believes you've got "it", you've already lost 2 days' pay refreshing the NHS website every 2 hours, what would you do?

There would be nothing I could do. I’d be furious (as I am now that so many people are in this situation) but I’d keep trying the online database.

As @QueenOfPain has just explained, A&E hardly has enough staff in general. Do people honestly think that they’ve got a secret stash?!

Also, it’s irresponsible going to A&E and potentially infecting the staff causing them to be off if they catch it.... not to mention passing it to people who are having heart attacks and strokes etc....

Let’s be honest, if you can get to A&E you’re doing ok if you’ve got covid.

It’s a diabolical situation and I do have sympathy for people and their worries about losing their jobs. It’s awful and it’s mayhem and I hope to go someone is going to take charge of this whole fiasco!

Bearing in mind, nurses and doctors are struggling to get tested in some areas so if more go off sick because of an influx of A&E walk ins then that’s not going to be a happy ending is it.....