Rocking up to urgent care with symptoms w/o PCR

[Backofbeyond50]

I get that it must be a Service with a red channel but seriously why not take a PCR first

Isn't the clue in the name?

Because if you go to urgent care, you need to be seen urgently? Not wait for a test.

If urgent care required you may not have time or energy to take a pcr. A and E will triage and test.

Hospitals/urgent care still treat people if they have covid

Yes they will triage and test.
Meanwhile the other people in the queue have potentially been exposed. I had to go to A&E when I knew I had covid. Had to wait in same queue as everyone else and was then taken through the waiting room to another waiting room for covid. I was glad I wasn't there for something other than covid myself.

The clue is in the title urgent care, you don't have a spare 24 hours to get a pcr. High temperatures could be lots of other things etc.

@Backofbeyond50

I get that it must be a Service with a red channel but seriously why not take a PCR first

It takes at least a day to book, go for and receive the results of a PCR test.

I'm assuming urgent care means you need medical help urgently, like now, not in 24+ hours times

An LFT would be useful if possible to at least give some indication, though they aren't overly reliable.

Hospitals are pretty chilled on the whole Covid thing really. I was in hospital on a normal ward for a good 6 hours a few weeks ago before a nurse came to do a Covid test. I never got the results so assuming I was fine. This was a couple of weeks ago.

Oh, and don't assume you, or others, will be tested for covid on arrival at A&E. My experience is that you won't be.

I went in October with dangerously high blood pressure and other issues.
A and E had me in the 'green' side.
I was sent home (we don't know why as it shouldn't have happened) and then ended up there again the next day with it even higher. I was in two different ward areas all day, all classed as green and then admitted.

It was only when I was admitted that I was tested for covid. Overnight I was in an open ward with 9 other patients, including some very elderly and vulnerable patients. My covid tests came back positive - It was what was causing my blood pressure issue.

I'd spent two days in A&E, walk in centre, GP surgery, two day wards and an overnight ward - mixing with other patients and several medical staff. All the time I was covid positive.

Whilst that was last year I know of a number of people who have used A&E this year and not one was tested for covid.

It's not at a hospital though but a regular doctors surgery with a minor illness walk in. They call it Urget care though
At least they were not letting them in waiting room but still have to queue together.

Our minor injuries screens for Covid verbally and checks temperature. A and Es must vary- DH was tested once they knew he needed treatment/admission even though he had been negative on a pcr two days prior.

I’m sure the patients have been screened & deemed unwell enough to be seen ASAP without waiting 24 hours for test results ..

I’ve taken my young DD’s to the docs several times with covid symptoms - fever, cough without PCR tests. My DD’s were really unwell & needed to be seen. They didn’t have covid at any point.

& what you also say is they triage them out into a different area. So actually, pretty sensible & practical. Is the queuing outside? In a well ventilated room? I spent 6/7 hours in a covid red zone in A&E with my DD in July. Covid patients all around us. We didn’t catch it.

actually, I wasn’t tested at all this summer.

A&E, went for a chest x-ray, ECG, given blood thinners, waited in a bay, admitted to AEC unit, brain scan, CT scan (they messed up and sent me twice instead of doing it together), more blood thinners….. went had to go back three times that week to spend 12 hours each time there for repeat tests - not tested for covid once and not asked if I had any symptoms as far as I can remember.

@Backofbeyond50

It's not at a hospital though but a regular doctors surgery with a minor illness walk in. They call it Urget care though At least they were not letting them in waiting room but still have to queue together.

None of our GP surgeries or walk in centres are requesting PCR, or even LFT. They haven't done throughout the pandemic.

I am pretty sure our local,GPS were refusing to see anyone with COVID symptoms.
Everyone came in through one set of automatic doors and pressed a buzzer. Any with symptoms were sent back outside passed the queue.
O well guess I guess it was just a new experience today and perfectly normal.