If you might qualify for antivirals how long did it take them to get in touch after you reported your positive test?

[Splodgerbodgerbadger]

I tested positive this morning and registered it with the NHS as asked to do so as I might qualify for antivirals. It said they get in touch within the next 24hrs. Do they contact you even if you don’t qualify? And how long did it take for them to get in touch with you?

I had covid over Christmas and am eligible for the antivirals due to my health issues. They did not get in touch with me after sending in my positive test via the channel they ask for( tests from the antiviral team that you log on and send them) I tried 111, no luck, spoke to my GP eventually and they were useless, I eventually got hold of my specialist nurse at the hospital who told me that the whole thing was a shambles and pointless! I was really ill for two weeks, didn’t get the antivirals and never heard back from them at all. Hope you have better luck than I did!

I was told to contact my GP if I tested positive. I did and was contacted the next day. I got antivirals, but only just as they had to be started within 5 days (counting the first day as 'day 0') of first covid symptoms, but I didn't test positive for 4 days. They helped me a bit, but I was unwell for about 3 weeks in total, with the first week spent in bed.
Don't wait for them to contact you, phone your GP.
Hope you feel better soon

Thank you, they phoned me this morning.

My OH is ECV due to cancer/chemotherapy and got Covid in December. He knew he was eligible for antivirals (his oncologist had already told him), so he contacted his GP (chocolate fireguard) and his named cancer specialist nurse (left a phone message). The next day he still hadn't heard from either, so tried both again. He got a phone call back from the GP's nurse practitioner who didn't seem to know about the antivirals so OH had to tell her the name of the drugs, how his oncologist told him about them, etc), so NP said she'd get a GP to phone back! Still no return phone call from the cancer nurse, so he phoned and left a message at the oncology dept and his oncologist's secretary. Day 3, and no phone calls back, so he chased all 4 again! Then the GP receptionist called back and said the GP had "pinged" a message to the antiviral team at the hospital! They called him back the next day, to discuss it, and the outcome was that he had to go to the hospital pharmacy to pick up the drugs. Which he did. He read the instructions and they said the drugs course had to be started within a certain number of days of the positive test (3 I think), which was long passed. So he had to phone the GP again to ask them to ping the antiviral team again for a call back (antiviral team don't take incoming phone calls from patients!), and the eventual outcome was not to take them as it was too late. Of course, DH was over the worst of his covid anyway after a week! So, all in all, a pointless and wasteful use of apparently valuable/shortage NHS resources! (He never did get any call backs from oncology dept, but that's nothing new, they're pretty hard to get hold of).

It sounds like I’ve been lucky, I reported my test at around 12pm yesterday had a phone call late morning from the initial team then a call from the local team at 3pm. They are delivering some antivirals on Friday. Maybe it depends on where you live as to how good they are.

I was quite impressed by the NHS as I said reported the test late Tuesday morning got a phone call Wednesday morning to see if I was suitable, then another call later that day from the local covid unit. Got the medication delivered by taxi on Friday and had another call that evening to make sure I’d got them and told me how to take them. Much more straightforward than I was expecting.