What’s the point in getting people to do their own swab tests?!

[MarcelineMissouri]

Had to go to one of the drive in test centres today ( I don’t have cv symptoms but use the Zoe tracker and got asked to get tested after reporting I wasn’t feeling well yesterday)
Nose swab - fine although hard to know for sure if I was far enough in.
Throat swab?? Impossible! Could barely see my tonsils and managed about 2 seconds before gagging too much to carry on.

I hope that having to take swabs from both areas is a back up rather than a necessity. It just seems to me that with how far in these things have to go there must be thousands of people not doing it right leading to inaccurate results?

I realise it will be about staffing, totally appreciate that, it’s just hard to see how they would get an accurate result from me doing it myself.

Yes you are correct. It’s an Incredibly invasive swab and I don’t believe anyone can do it correctly on themselves

I did a home test last week and a negative result came through even though I really struggled with the throat swab due to gagging. The nose swab just made me sneeze none stop but I actually found that bit easier than the throat!

I was invited to do one as part of NHS survey.
I was actually sick after trying to do the throat swab as it made me gag so much. With the nose one, I tried my best but don't believe I went far enough. It's just human nature to stop when something hurts.
Sent it off and got negative result but I am very sceptical that there was anything to sample.
I thought it was not realistic representation when reliant upon general public self administering and that's without accounting for people failing to adhere to strict hygiene to avoid any cross contamination...

About as much use as your partner peeing on a pregnancy test.

I couldn't manage the tonsil bit either.
Does make you wonder how worthwhile all the testing will be.

Wouldn't the test results come back as inconclusive if there was nothing on the swab to test? I could have done with someone doing the throat part for me, DH declined!

You're right.

I had the virus - I know I had it.

Test was negative - most likely because I did it myself and it was unpleasant and the gagging did me in. I highly doubt I did it properly.

Total waste of time- and it took 6 days to come back!!

Same. I got asked to do one by the app. I gagged and was sick on the first swab. Had to ask for another. I don't think I managed to get the right area at all with the second as my throat tensed up, with a fear of gagging again.

Also, the instruction to swab your tonsils or where your tonsils should be. How are you supposed to know where your tonsils should be if you've not had any since you were 3?!

I understand that to up the testing level to the levels Hancock committed to they outsourced to Serco. Hence the shit, virtually pointless experience at the newer test centres.

My dh can't see his tonsils either and could not swab them so just did the nostril. I did mine but the throat made me gag and the nose made me sneeze. I answered a survey today and advised them to put a spare swab in the kit.

I did one at home nearly two weeks ago, it was pretty unpleasant even though I'm used to poking about my manky tonsils. It was collected by the courier, since then I've heard nothing, I don't know why I bothered!

@TabbyStar you should phone up with your test number to find out.

I work in a care home and all 40+ staff had to test last week.
We all done our own test. We read the instructions first.
None of the tests came back inconclusive so we all managed to do it correctly. It’s really not that hard.

you should phone up with your test number to find out.

I did think about that, but imagine I'd be stuck in a queue and I have a zillion other things to do trying to save my business, and support my DM and DD so it doesn't come to the top of the list when it's too late to make any immediate practical difference.

I vomited doing mine. How the hell they expect you to do it to babies and toddlers I’ve no idea. One of mine needed a swab when she was 1 and the gp didn’t find it easy and said how unpleasant it was for the little ones.

I agree. Had to get my 10 year old to do her own. It would be impossible with a younger child.

If you did it wrong , it would’ve come back inconclusive.
Surely people don’t need handheld to take a test.

I’m not sure that it would necessarily come back as inconclusive if done wrong though would it? If you went far enough back to get a sample but not far enough to where the virus sits then surely it would come back as negative rather than inconclusive?

@Scotinengland76

If you did it wrong , it would’ve come back inconclusive. Surely people don’t need handheld to take a test.

They don't come back as inconclusive, though. They come back as virus detected or not detected.

OP I agree, I have no idea if I swabbed in the right place especially when sat in the passenger seat of a car. Waste of time and effort.

Surely people don’t need handheld to take a test

Actually yes they should, I had never done one before to myself or anyone else, or had one taken, I have no idea if I did it correctly. I can't trust a result of a test that I am unsure was done correctly, and to me is what makes the whole tracing thing pointless.

This has been my concern over 'self testing' as soon as they brought it in. It's too difficult for most people to actually swab in the right place and it may miss positive tests. By now I pretty much just despair at the govt's handling of any of this.

www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632823-200-how-accurate-are-the-results-from-self-testing-for-covid-19-at-home/

I don’t have tonsils so I would be very unsure how far to go with the throat swab, it does seem like people will struggle doing swabs themselves. I’ve seen some reports like the link above showing professionally done tests give a false negative around 30% of the time so home tests will definitely be much higher

Same here TabbyStar they picked my home test up last Monday week 25th 8.30am and I've heard nothing.

I agree. I was sent for a test by the Zoe app also. I didn't realise it was self test. I'm 99% sure I didn't swab my throat properly. My result was unsurprisingly negative.