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Welcome to Scotsnet - discuss all aspects of life in Scotland, including relocating, schools and local areas.

Original poster

Loophole is giving Scottish appointment to ppl in England.

37 replies

Torvean32 · 16/09/2020 19:25

This is a disgrace. The fact that testing centres are telling ppl to do this plus an article in the Guardian with ppl telling others to do it. There is also a post in the Corona board telling ppl to do this.

BBC News - Coronavirus: 'Use Scottish postcode,' test centre told visitors
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-54178000

OP posts:
JayAlfredPrufrock · 16/09/2020 19:26

The horror.

loutypips · 16/09/2020 19:27

I would imagine that it will also mess up the figures and make it seem that there are more Scottish cases.

Scotslassie1 · 16/09/2020 19:42

Don't blame the people but the English gov who really need to sort out their clusterf*ck of a testing process at the moment.

Dreeple · 16/09/2020 19:45

Does anyone else not really care about this?

ALLIS0N · 16/09/2020 20:24

Yes I care. But I’m not sure what I can do about it?

Original poster
Torvean32 · 16/09/2020 20:35

@Dreeple

Does anyone else not really care about this?
I bet you would care if you needed tests and could not get them.
OP posts:
Arkadia · 16/09/2020 22:20

I don't understand, why shouldn't people near the border cross it if there is availability? Surely it can work both ways. If so am in Jedburgh it makes more sense do go towards Newcastle than Aberdeen, and from Newcastle it makes more sense to go towards Edinburgh than Manchester..

PapsofJura · 16/09/2020 22:23

A couple of weeks ago some people in Scotland were being told to go to England for their test, what’s the difference?

Rudolphian · 16/09/2020 22:30

I care.
It is a complete shambles.
Not only will the testing sites in Scotland be sitting empty, but the figures for positives will increase too so it looks like there are more positives in Scotland. It wont help with allocating the tests to where the need is.
But you cant blame the people they wouldn't do it if they weren't desperate.
It's on the governments head.
They need to ensure the testing sites check the address of the testing site and not just the QR code.

Rudolphian · 16/09/2020 22:33

@Arkadia

I don't understand, why shouldn't people near the border cross it if there is availability? Surely it can work both ways. If so am in Jedburgh it makes more sense do go towards Newcastle than Aberdeen, and from Newcastle it makes more sense to go towards Edinburgh than Manchester..
Its not about people driving from Newcastle to Aberdeen

People are booking the test just to get a QR code and then going to their local one, could be in London or anywhere really. The test site are just checking they have a QR code.

JaniceBattersby · 16/09/2020 22:35

Positive Covid test results are allocated to the postcode of the person who is tested, not the test centre.

People should be able to go to the nearest test centre with availability. If that means crossing the border in either direction then there’s no issue with that. If a centre hasn’t got availability then it won’t let people book appointments.

Arkadia · 16/09/2020 22:36

@JaniceBattersby, so what is the issue here? I am not clear at all.

IncludeWomenInTheSequel · 16/09/2020 22:41

Maybe it becomes an issue if England is out of tests and sends a high number of people from NE over the border, which then leaves Scottish people unable to access tests.

Arkadia · 16/09/2020 22:52

It is not different from sending people from Newcastle to Leeds or York, isn't it? I still don't understand what the problem is.

Arkadia · 16/09/2020 22:55

I remember when school went back and we had our big spike in tests (what a waste of money that was), people were being sent to Carlisle and further south. Is it not the same thing?

Anotherthink · 16/09/2020 22:58

Isn't the problem that they're booking at a Scottish test centre, obtaining a code, travelling to their local test site, scanning code and getting test. This will slow test results down at the centre they attended as presumably they were booked out due to reaching full capacity at nearest lab (is this still the reason for lack of testing, I can't keep up), and the Scottish test centre will be booked up but with lots of vacant appointments.

Shite set up, code should only work at the test centre you book at.

SockYarn · 16/09/2020 23:02

We're all the same country. If someone needs a test I dont care whether they're in Aberdeen, Abergavenny , Antrim or aldershot.

And as for messing up the figures, that's a good one. Scottish government earnestly proclaims 250 odd in hospital. Turns out they meant 48.

IncludeWomenInTheSequel · 16/09/2020 23:04

@Arkadia

It is not different from sending people from Newcastle to Leeds or York, isn't it? I still don't understand what the problem is.
I guess it's a numbers game; the needs of a country ten times the size of its neighbour could quite quickly overwhelm the smaller partner's capacity.
Rudolphian · 16/09/2020 23:11

And if Glasgow goes into a local lockdown because of a spike but actually the positives were in Norfolk, Kent and Manchester.
All you need to do a test is a mobile number for the results and the QR code .
If you're putting in Scottish postcodes but actually live somewhere else then there is no way to find our if there is a local spike where you live.
There isn't a problem with people travelling to a test site over the border from where they live.
The issue is putting in fake post codes just for the QR code and then going to your local test site.

SockYarn · 16/09/2020 23:15

Whatever. I'm so over the whole thing. They've massaged the hospital numbers to keep us all terrified. Numbers of people ill in hospital are ridiculously low.

If people test positive then the track and trace people will know where they live. This is just a massive fuss over nothing, stoked by an overwhelmed, crappy system and some weird belief that Scotland is losing out because of it.

MissSunnyDays · 16/09/2020 23:24

This reply has been deleted

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Arkadia · 16/09/2020 23:25

@Rudolphian, but the same applies if from Newcastle I put a Leeds postcode, doesn't it? And similarly people from the borders could get York quarantined?
I don't quite understand how I can book at place X and turn up at place Y. Clearly that is a mistake that needs rectifying if create further confusion (hard to believe you could actually have "further confusion").

SockYarn · 17/09/2020 07:41

@MissSunnyDays

Lol we are not the same country
LOL we are all part of the UK. Hmm

If it is possible to book a test in Inverness, get a QR code, and turn up in Plymouth then that obviously needs to be addressed. But it's not an England vs Scotland scenario. That person in Plymouth looking for a test could equally put in a postcode in Liverpool, Belfast, Newcastle, London - anywhere.

But anyway it only effects capacity for people turning up at test centres. If someone tests positive then that "case" will be recorded where they live.

It's just something else for people to froth about.

Scotslassie1 · 17/09/2020 07:55

Sock Yarn you're so over it yet commenting on every thread.. 😏
I wasn't bothered but now I can see why it could cause issues and I can imagine the fall out from the Tories if the people at the Scottish testing centres were telling people to put in a code for Twickenham to access a test.

IncludeWomenInTheSequel · 17/09/2020 07:57

I think you can think it makes no difference if it's Scotland or London or whatever, but that would be ignoring the political climate in which many people in Scotland feel they're chained to England; losing out on tests due to the political incompetence of Westminster isn't really going to land well.