600 million LFT not accounted for

[Baileysforchristmas]

Because no one wants to use them, what a waste of money.

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/25/almost-600m-nhs-home-covid-tests-unaccounted-for-auditors-reveal

We have 5 boxes at home ATM. DD tests twice a week and school simply wants them to log their results on the school intranet. I swear they give out twice as many boxes as necessary (I dread to think how many boxes we'll get given for the summer holidays).

DH and I take a test if we're off to the dentist or similar, but we don't bother if we're just meeting vaccinated friends or nipping to the shops (we work from home). We do log those tests, but it is a bit of a faff.

I test twice most weeks but often forget to register the result. I imagine this happens to a lot of them.

I am another one guilty of not logging the negative results. I have to test to visit my mum, and the home requires me to take the actual test along as proof which they then take and destroy . Mostly I haven't got round to logging before I go.

I know lots of people using them, but most have admitted to not being able to be bothered to register the results.

Am I the only person never to have even seen a test let alone taken one/have loads in the house?!

@TheVampiresWife

Am I the only person never to have even seen a test let alone taken one/have loads in the house?!

I hadn’t until recently - have never had any symptoms or known anybody who has / has had Covid, never been pinged by T&T so hadn’t ever tested until a few weeks ago when my social group began having larger house gatherings and we all decided it would sensible for everyone to do a quick test beforehand when these happen.

Have friends who have tested regularly for ages though - apart from the obvious professions and schools, quite a few workplaces have made it a condition of accessing the office to test twice-weekly.

People saying they got them free at the chemist
Did you have to give your address?

Boots were desperate to offload some to me! I only had to give my age category and for what reason I wanted them apart from them costing them upon me

We do them twice a week as requested by school - the usual place(sports centre carpark) is a 20 min drive so good to get them in boots rather than make a special journey to get them. The sports centre doesnt ask for any info though.

"Did the pharmacy ask for your address?"

I picked ours up from the pharmacy attached to our GP when I popped into pick up a prescription. When they handed over two boxes I think they just wanted the ages of people we'd be testing. Just about every pharmacy in our town now seems to stock them.

There are details on this page if anybody feels the need to get hold of some tests:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/regular-rapid-coronavirus-tests-if-you-do-not-have-symptoms/

"find out where to get a rapid LFT'" will give you a list of local pharmacies/test centres .

I use them & had no idea I was supposed to register them 🙈😂 woops!

I never realised you were supposed to log negatives either. Nonetheless, they have been useful to us and we've tested regularly so I don't think it's fair to conclude that number is 'wasted'

I went to Tesco pharmacy to get some LFTs for my DF. It was a Spanish Inquisition to get them. I thought anyone could get them but they wanted to know who, why dob everything

I logged everytime through work, but now we don't have to I just have a box in the house for if I'm going to meet my parents etc and don't bother logging it so long as it's negative... Just use them for personal information.

My local pharmacy has a table outside with boxes piled high for passers by to pick up. No questions at all. Nor anyone looking to see how many you take etc.
Pamphlet emphatically does not tell me to register negatives. It does tell me to register positives.

I record negatives. It takes less than 1 minute. It remembers all your details and you can use the phone camera to get the test number.

It's just taken me 4 mins to report me and the dcs negatives. The pick lists remember the dc's details which speeds it up. I've got their mobile numbers scribbled on a sheet with all our phone numbers.

Not only is the pamphlet silent about reporting negatives but then say ‘report positive’ results - in this circs I read that and think it would be positively a waste of my time and theirs to report negatives BECAUSE WE WERE NOT TOLD TO ! This really kisses me off. If we needed to they needed to tell us in instructions.

My instructions tell me to register the result. It doesn't mention positive or negative. It just says result.

Are there two sets of instructions?

DS has been testing twice weekly for ages and the school uses a reporting site we could never get access to ad well as logging it with the NHS. Not sure why it needed reporting twice. I don't bother

I have to do twice weekly tests for work and have to go through the NHS site every time

I only wanted one box from my pharmacy and ended up coming away with 4. It was like they had targets to give as many as they can out.

@SonnetForSpring

People aren't logging the results if negative.

This. I use them twice a week but never logged them. I would if I had a positive one.

This is my page. Next page talks about how to register ‘result’. This page quite clearly connects registering with positives only. IMO !

That'll be the families like mine who do them but don't report them because it's a gigantic PITA.

I log the negative results but only because my mum is in a care home and I do them before I go as I have to show the confirmation text they send me as proof. My DD also has to show the negative result text before she’s allowed to go to her dance class.

The confusion and “had no idea we were supposed to” posts in this thread prove what a triumph of communication this whole exercise had been.

If it helps balance anything out, I’ve logged all ours setting up two separate accounts for both kids. I get all anxious and guilty if I haven’t done it.

@PuppyMonkey

The confusion and “had no idea we were supposed to” posts in this thread prove what a triumph of communication this whole exercise had been.

If it helps balance anything out, I’ve logged all ours setting up two separate accounts for both kids. I get all anxious and guilty if I haven’t done it.

This is what happens when the Health Secretary is too busy with his bit on the side to ensure the public know what they're supposed to be doing...