How could they do this??

[InsideNo7]

N/C because this is a bit outing.
I work in a frontline job where we get tested weekly.

I’ve just been told that a test I handed in ten days ago is positive!
In that time I’ve stayed overnight with my parents (I’m a single adult so am in their bubble), have met friends for coffee and lunch (it was my birthday this week) and done an extra shift in another hospital in another tier.

I’m so angry, I would have done none of this if I’d known. I’ve had no symptoms so would have never known if I didn’t have regular tests. I’ve put so many people at risk.

I’m just here to rant, I feel like they haven’t upheld their end of the deal.

Did you see that here in the U.K. there was a known lab error for people testing between 19-23 November, the lab gave false positive results due to a chemical problem with the testing..... My son’s best friend received a positive result (six days after the test) and they all had to isolate from school, he was asymptomatic. He was then told four days later that it was an error - it was in the press but not headline news....... Do Scottish tests get sent to the U.K. for processing - could you have been caught up in this ? Only a thought......

But in any case, thanks for all the work you do

Do Scottish tests get sent to the U.K. for processing

Sorry to nitpick as I know you don't mean it badly, but Scotland is part of the UK.

That's frustrating OP, 10 days FFS what on earth. I hope your parents are okay, I'm sure they will be, and ignore those who think you should have spent the best part of last year alone when legally and from a human point of view it is more that understandable you have been seeing your parents. My neighbour keeps moaning about single or vulnerable people being able to mix with another household (in England, not sure on the rules in Scotland), she lives with her mum, her husband and their children; so has the people she cares about most already with her, and begrudges people on their own being able to see theirs.

[quote InsideNo7]@PeppaPigOinkOinkOink I would love to hear more about that- who did you contact to investigate?[/quote]
Unfortunately as I was classed as 'the patient' all I could do was request that internal T&T completed a datix. T&T spoke to my like manager and asked them to complete it, at which my manager said nope it is your issue not ours. They couldn't trace who had documented it was positive!

They initially wasn't going to complete a datix, which left me I insisted they did. I also made sure the nursing and medical leads had been informed, other than that I felt my hands were tied.

I had been to 2 different health care settings as a patient after the swab, as I had been informed it was negative so was panicking to say the least!

@PeppaPigOinkOinkOink
Thank you- that is really helpful. I’m psyching myself to go in tomorrow and raise a fuss, so forewarned is forearmed. So sorry you had to go through that- what a pain

I can't believe people are suggesting you've been irresponsible OP. I have family that are FL workers in the NHS and teachers and I would never expect them to shut themselves away from the rest of the world for the duration. Things have been difficult enough for them as it is, like you they are 100% aware of the risks that come with their profession this year and take every precaution possible, but to tell a front line healthcare worker who lives alone that she is being irresponsible by not going straight home after work (which she does anyway!) but then also not daring to come out again until it's time to clock back on is the most offensive thing I've ever read. Massive virtual hug and high five to you OP, you're an absolute star.

Is it an issue with weekly testing processes?
My DB had a test last week and had his result in 24 hrs. But it wasn't part of a weekly testing procedure. Just a 'book a test today, turn up, get tested, get the result less than 24 hrs later.'
What a disaster if somehow the way they're managing weekly tests mean they're more likely to delay results. I hope you get to the bottom of it OP.

@InsideNo7 please just keep in mind, when you raise a fuss, that you will be doing a service to your patients, and to everyone else's patients as well.

I imagine that might help you to express in strong and insistent terms that they need they need to get any positive results back to people much more quickly.

Update: thankfully my clinical nurse manager seems rightly peeved and is brining it up with the hospital manager today. It turns out that there were several asymptomatic positives from the period I took the test, so maybe there is something to that theory about the testing centre (sorry, can’t remember poster’s name). Speaking to colleagues,several are reporting that they have had to wait several days for results, so it must be a ongoing glitch.

@InsideNo7 Sorry you're getting so much blame on this thread.

It's appalling they took so long to tell you.

@InsideNo7

Update: thankfully my clinical nurse manager seems rightly peeved and is brining it up with the hospital manager today. It turns out that there were several asymptomatic positives from the period I took the test, so maybe there is something to that theory about the testing centre (sorry, can’t remember poster’s name). Speaking to colleagues,several are reporting that they have had to wait several days for results, so it must be a ongoing glitch.

What a surprise! So that test was very obviously a false positive 🙄

@theotherfossilsister that’s ok, I expected to get a bit of a roasting from the Corona Police. The lovely supportive messages far outnumber the detractors, and like I said, they aren’t saying anything that hasn’t crossed my mind.

@justanotherneighinparadise yes, I think so to. Unfortunately I think too much time may have passed in the interim to prove it though .

On the plus side you haven’t infected your mum and close friends. So this is great news!

@justanotherneighinparadise this is absolutely true (providing it is a false positive).

2nd update: in case anybody is still interested, after some investigation it transpires that my swab went missing from the 20th to the 27th, when it turned up to be processed . Nobody quite knows what happened in the interim. Apparently my swab did show a “very small” viral load, small enough that it may have been cross contamination, however the opportunity to reswab had been lost so my family and friends are all still isolating. On the plus side, the load was so small that even if it had come from me it is apparently pretty unlikely that I would have infected anybody. Everybody remains well and I thank my lucky stars for that.

It’s the talk of the steamie at the moment- one of my colleagues said “OOOOOH, that was YOU!” when I told her the story. I think further investigation is going on which I won’t be privy to, at least until somebody figures out what has happened.
My family and friends in isolation have been great, amazing actually. Nothing but kind and supportive. There’s been a lot of baking so I am going to be inundated with scones and banana bread when they come out (oh no! ).
Thank you for all your supportive messages, I have been pretty low about the whole thing and they have helped a lot. I hope everybody remains well and we’re on the other side soon.

how do you live in scotland, work in the nhs and not see covid?

i thought we were so far only testing those who work in the high risk areas regularly, eg ITU - in which case you cant avoid covid patients.

@TisTheSeasonToBe The people being tested work in oncology, Medicine of the Elderly and Long-term medicine of the elderly. They don’t test staff who work on the Covid wards as frankly, what would be the point? If those staff had to isolate every time they had a positive test, there would hardly be any staff.
I pointed out earlier, the testing isn’t to protect staff, it’s to protect patients with high risk.
My workplace has an excellent triage system in which patients who have potential Covid symptoms are tested on designated wards and are treated as positive until proven otherwise. If they are being treated for corona, they stay on those wards. We have had the odd positive patient but I have a specialist role, and only see certain patients, none of whom have been positive. I’ve never had to go onto the “Red” (coronavirus) wards, and as my job involves seeing elderly patients with wonky immune systems in various settings, I wouldn’t be encouraged to unless absolutely necessary. Stop the spread and all that.
Hope this helps.

And for what it’s worth, we work very hard to contain Covid in certain areas of the hospital. A lot of us absolutely can avoid Covid if there’s the infrastructure.