Impossible to get a test!

[Catchingbabies]

My daughter was sent home from school Thursday with a cough, we now have to isolate until she’s had a test.

Fine except we can’t get a bloody test! No home tests available, the gov site doesn’t recognise my postcode (new build) and says it doesn’t exist so won’t even let me search for test sites and ringing the number they say there are no appointments available.

I’m frontline NHS staff, what happened to key-workers being prioritised? Now I’m off work for probably the next 2 weeks, leaving my department even more short staffed and even more dangerous because we can’t get a test.

It’s ridiculous! Won’t be long until the NHS is dangerously unstaffed with all the parents in the same position as the usual coughs and colds spread round the schools.

Something weird is going on. Some of dds friends (high school age) are trying to get tested and can't. We had no problems accessing tests 5 weeks ago.

Been trying for over 24 hours to get a test booked. I selected the 'I don't drive' option. They've finally offered me three walk through locations, all of which are drive in only (!), the nearest of which is 30 miles away as the crow flies. I give up.

@ABitOdd I took my sons passport but they didn't ask to see it. Just scanned the QR code through the window.

Been watching all this with curiosity.

Numbers rising but tests suddenly rarer than hens teeth.

Seen quite a few desperate people on here being advised to go private at around the 100.00 mark - because it's worth it because transmission blah blah blah.

Without putting on my tin foil hat, do I smell a corporate rat?

Agree. Something very odd is going on. Booked a test with no problems 5 weeks ago. It clearly said when there were 0 slots and gave options. On Thursday, input all my details and was told there was no walk-in or drive testing in my vicinity. I live in C London. I tried several other London postcodes and the same message. I turned up at a walk in. I was the only person there, which is no surprise as nobody can actually book. When I went on a separate site to register my barcode, it magically found the testing site. How has the government got this so wrong??? Feels like testing is being severely restricted. We are now in a period where demand will sharply rise with kids getting colds and so this should have been anticipated.

For anyone not able to get a slot, please just go to a walk-in. You can register your barcode after the test.

what do you mean by barcode?

The "something going on" id imagine is more people getting tested now due to close contact to a case at school or being sent home from childcare/school until you get a negative test.

I'm a teacher, took about 12 hours of refreshing the test website (going through all the bloody questions each time) to finally get my test centre popping up. They all release tests at different times. What an utter pain that was.

[quote Northernsoullover]@MaggieTheFrog you didn't need a test if you didn't have symptoms. Being frontline NHS you should know this.[/quote]
We were told by the local health board we all had to self isolate for 14 days. Other information on the government website states not. It's a mess.

@Sami544 when you do a test, you are given a card with a barcode. Test results will be assigned to this barcode. You need to register the barcode online with your personal details so that barcode and results are linked to you. If you book online, you don’t need to register it online. It will be scanned by people there who already have your details. If you turn up without booking, you need to register the barcode.

DH took my DS to a walk in centre locally this morning without an appointment and all fine. He was seen really quickly and results should be back tomorrow. It didn't show up on up on gov website BTW, we just saw it on the local LA website.

Well still not been able to find an appointment so I’m going to try just turning up. Fingers crossed!

I’ve had the same problems. Found info about a walk in from someone on Mumsnet thankfully but could not actually find info about walk-ins on the internet. They need to advertise them better. The one I went to was virtually empty as nobody knew it was there. The whole thing is a shambles.

Not only is it meaning children can’t return to school, it’s already leading to high absence amongst staff as they can’t get a test and are stuck at home. If anything leads to closure, it will be this lack of testing.