Has any one tried to book a test lately? Website wants me to drive 100 miles for a test?

[Theyweretheworstoftimes]

Has anyone tried to get a Covid 19 test?

Gov website is asking me to drive 100 miles for a test.

I know there is a testing facility 9 miles away.

Reason for test is essential worker.

Is this mad? Or AIBU?

Sore eyes can be a symptom of Covid! But in any event the government has just given the Zoe app people a £2 million grant, so it clearly thinks they are doing important work!

Its insane isnt it? I just kept refreshing every 10 mins til something closer to home came up. The whole systems seems chaotic tbh...

I don't know if I win with this: from central sw london:

• cardiff
• birmingham
• isle of wight

I had a test on Sunday (invited by the Zoe app and had all the symptoms I normally get at the beginning or a viral infection - DH has been feeling unusually short of breath also despite being pretty healthy) and had lots of choice - including our nearest which is about 15 miles away.
Got notified Monday that the result was unclear and we needed to test again - we think they messed up the labelling, it didn't seem very organised at the drop off point, and managed to book another slot at the same site within the hour.

Still waiting for the results of the second one several days later - DH is now better (and was able to work from home) and I actually had tonsillitis which is much better now, plus I was off work anyway.

This has been in the news.

Tests have been diverted to areas with more infection. One person in the reports was offered a test 150 miles away!

Home tests were out of stock but I went on next day and got some.

It's a bit rubbish tbh.

Aren't they opening a big test site in Barnard castle?

It had got more difficult here. I have to go 36 miles tomorrow when previously I have had much more choice of times at centres much nearer. It will definitely put people off testing. I was in two minds - how do you decide if a cough is continuous or not?

I have insisted that people at work have tests when they have had temperatures but are saying that they are sure it isn’t Covid and so far it hasn’t been difficult for them but if they have to travel miles they are going to start resisting and then what do we do as a business?

Yup, I know of two testing centres within 5 miles. But the only available one was over 90 mins drive. I'm a single parent of babies/toddlers, I had no intention of putting them in the car for a 3hour round trip. So I decided my cough probably wasn't "continuous" after all and was just a tickly cough and didn't get tested.

It's just going to throw up a massive inequality for those who can drive and those who can't. If you can get a drive through you might only miss a day or two of work/school but if not you could miss several days and repeated several times over winter it's really going to add up.

I cant drive, I could cycle to one in theory but not if I was properly unwell

You need a car at the drive through centres for the distancing and how it is set up. You are right about yet another inequality. Hard to fix it though, at least the postal option exists. Are there many walk in centres? I haven’t seen much about them.

I've just had our tests delivered. Ordered yesterday before 9am, arrived today at 13.30. Problem is they have to be posted in a specific post box an hour before the last collection and on a Saturday the latest collection from any priority post box around here is 1pm so we've missed that and you can't send them on Sunday so we now can't send them until Monday, then we have to wait for the results. This must surely be an issue as more people have to stay away from school and work while waiting for tests.

What are people who can't drive supposed to do? There are millions of them.

@EDSGFC

I've just had our tests delivered. Ordered yesterday before 9am, arrived today at 13.30. Problem is they have to be posted in a specific post box an hour before the last collection and on a Saturday the latest collection from any priority post box around here is 1pm so we've missed that and you can't send them on Sunday so we now can't send them until Monday, then we have to wait for the results. This must surely be an issue as more people have to stay away from school and work while waiting for tests.

I thought they were collected by courier. How are you supposed to take them to a post box if you're isolating?

PinkSparklyPussyCat

They link to specific priority post boxes in the area and the time of the final collection. Presumably it's ok to walk to the post box to post them? I don't know, this just seems like another half arsed attempt at managing this virus from government. Why on earth are weekends pretty much removed from the testing window for postal tests? Even waiting for the delivery of the tests - they were delivered by Amazon and looking at the parcel tracking were sent from Glasgow yesterday - we live in London. That beggars belief. Why aren't there tests around the UK for Amazon to deliver on the same day? I could order from Amazon this morning and get it delivered today but we can't do that with tests? Instead it took 28 hours from order until delivery which meant that we were too late to test today and now can't do it until Monday. This will just be impractical for people over the coming weeks. If you miss the five day window they say you have to isolate instead - but people aren't going to keep being able to do that are they?

Jesus CHRIST this government really could not run a fucking piss up in a fucking brewery could they?!?!?

Piss ups are banned at the mo.

Maybe that's why

'Aren't they opening a big test site in Barnard castle?'

I'm dreading if any of us need a test. We have no car, so home testing would be our only option. So we will most likely end up with kids being off school/me being off work for a week.

Maybe I got lucky but my test was about 2 miles away!
It’s crazy how far some of you have to travel.

We don't have a car, and I will be off work for at least a week. DS had a fever starting on Thursday night. I managed to order a test on Friday morning. The test arrived this afternoon (Saturday). The next collection is 5pm on Monday. The leaflet with the test says that i should get results 2 days after the test is received (Thursday) but that it might take longer, and to chase up if I don't get a result after 5 days .

DH can work from home, but I'll miss a minimum of a week, and the children will miss the first week of school and possibly more.

I don’t know about other areas, but in London there are walk in centres too. I can imagine if you live in smaller towns they might not have anything more accessible.

I phoned the helpline about this on weds as I was told my daughter needed a test (She had a Cold and a temp) and there were no slots for 80 miles. I live in se London so knew it was ridiculous. No home tests available either, just drive in.

Lady told me that they update their systems after the places close at 8pm so it’s worth checking shortly after that. I duly tried again at 8.20 and booked a test in Greenwich for 8am next morning.

We did the test and then got the negative result at 1am on Friday morning. I think the online system is shit.

Also we didn’t book it but we got my son tested at the same time. You can just turn up at a drive in test Centre, only if you have a car though of course.

I was offered Gatwick airport today. Like I want a 130 mile round trip including the M25 and M23 on a Saturday when I feel like crap.

@perfumeistooexpensive

I was offered Gatwick airport today. Like I want a 130 mile round trip including the M25 and M23 on a Saturday when I feel like crap.

The only centre offered to us was Gatwick - we live in London. It's ridiculous

Maybe you could test your eyesight at the same time.