Covid test reporting for secondary students

[Lidyigo]

DS (11) is getting into the swing of doing his lateral flow Covid tests. All negative so far. We report the result to the school using something called Test Register, and then it links to the NHS page for registering the result with them too. That's a much more onerous process, and isn't particularly tailored to a school child. I went through multiple screens answering lots of questions then finally abandoned it when it asked for my child's phone number (not mine, my 11 year-old's). Surely it's not appropriate for them to be collecting children's direct contact details? If a parent's number would be acceptable instead then they need to make that much clearer in the blurb. But am I missing something?

You can stick in any valid telephone number.

If you don't have a mobile phone (at all, or that you're prepared to give out for this purpose) then it says you can report the result by phone

@AnguaResurgam

You can stick in any valid telephone number.

If you don't have a mobile phone (at all, or that you're prepared to give out for this purpose) then it says you can report the result by phone

I know you can put any valid number, but it says it wants the number of the person being tested. And even if I understood the point of phoning them, there's no way I'm going to do that twice a week.

If the NHS are asking hundreds of thousands of parents to report Covid test results twice a week they need to make it simple.

At the start it asks you if you're reporting a result for yourself or someone else. When you've answered their name & school etc, I then put my own telephone number and email address etc.

I register my kid’s results with my number saying I’m reporting results for someone else.

Have you created an NHS login? If you do it stores all that personal information to make it much quicker to do the reporting.

You can create a login. Also at the very start choose you are reporting for someone else. You should then be able to provide your contact details

Yes, set up a login in their name. I have one for my tests (do them on the same day as teen DCs) but sometimes log theirs for them because they are fed up with it all now, it takes longer to do theirs, I use their email addresses but my phone no as I can't remember theirs.

The phone number for the test result?

They don't know or probably even care whose number it is as long as you get the result. They aren't going to be calling anyone, I think you're over thinking it tbh

@Africa2go

At the start it asks you if you're reporting a result for yourself or someone else. When you've answered their name & school etc, I then put my own telephone number and email address etc.

Yes, I suspect that's what most people will end up doing. However the instruction is very clear that you need to give the email address and phone number of the person who took the test, not the person completing the form. You can say the child doesn't have an email address, but if you say they don't have a mobile phone number you're told to call the helpline, which people are unlikely to bother with. I'm wary of putting my own phone number because that's directly against the instruction. It's not clear why they need the number, so entering mine could have unintended consequences. They say it's for contact tracing (even though that makes no sense for a negative test result) but if I were to get a text message about contact tracing I wouldn't know whether it was for me or my son. I experience a similar issue with 'paperless' hospital letters because our local hospital has my email/phone registered for both me and my son. They send texts/emails about appointments etc that don't make it clear who they're for. I click the link in the message and it takes me to a screen where I enter my own surname and DOB. If I don't find anything new, I then have to click on the link again and enter my son's details instead. I work in IT, so can cope with algorithmic gymnastics, but it must bamboozle a lot of people. The problem is caused by NHS system developers not taking parents fully into account when designing their workflows.

But you'd know which one of you had submitted a positive test result if they contacted you for contact tracing.

You’re over thinking this. Just put your contact details down.

My children are still doing their tests at school/college and results are emailed and text to me. But if they move to home testing I’ll still be putting my number down.

My 14 year old has had a phone since he was 9. I still give my phone number for everything official (except so he can use his debit card online after June something, have to get around to giving his number to the bank for that).

@LoveDrunk

You’re over thinking this. Just put your contact details down.

My children are still doing their tests at school/college and results are emailed and text to me. But if they move to home testing I’ll still be putting my number down.

I'm thinking like a system developer, because that's what I am.

Very many people will think like you, and skip through the form without a care, but there will be others who don't. When people are using the form in such large numbers, they all matter.

The thing I find most infuriating is that "for security" you have to enter the phone number twice and you can't use the "paste" function. I do not know my DC phone numbers by heart because they are stored in my phone memory and I have to switch between the contacts tab and the test reporting tab multiple times remembering 4 digits at a time and do it twice.

I think the thing is that the government commissioned one IT system for recording and reporting results, which has been in use for months and which was designed for the theoretical scenario of a worker at a test site or perhaps a school nurse processing tests for a large number of people. Once you input a phone number you get a text message to that phone number telling you your test was negative, which does seem silly because obviously you already know, but it would probably be an even bigger waste of taxpayer funds for the government to pay for more software development consultancy time just to create a system that is more tailored to the scenario of parents reporting the results of their own child's test.

As with so many other things at the moment it's best just to accept that it is what it is and go along with the path of least resistance. If you really don't want to give your DCs phone number you can buy a pay-as-you-go simcard for 50p from asda (or various other places) which will come with a 'disposable' phone number that you use solely for this purpose. The simcard doesn't even need to be put into a phone call the number is used for is sending a text with information you already know.

As I see it, it's only really needed if you report a positive test, then they are going to ring the number you give them to tell you to get a PCR test, take details of contacts etc, it would be better for them to have your number for all that anyway in the case of an 11 year old.

Can someone point me to where you can set up a login? I have a link that the school sent out which takes me directly to the reporting page, but can't see an option in there (I've only looked on my phone so may be missing something?)

As with so many other things at the moment it's best just to accept that it is what it is and go along with the path of least resistance.

Yes @KihoBebiluPute, and I agree with the rest of your post too. But I predict that in a few weeks time there will be a news headline along the lines of "Only x% of secondary student Covid tests being used/reported" and it will either blame parents for not following processes or, more likely, blame the NHS for not making the process easier. Reporting negative tests is almost as important as reporting positive tests because they help researchers to track the spread.

@clairedunphy

Can someone point me to where you can set up a login? I have a link that the school sent out which takes me directly to the reporting page, but can't see an option in there (I've only looked on my phone so may be missing something?)

access.login.nhs.uk/enter-email

You are putting in their name, DOB, address, school, those are the things that will be used for research and statistics, not their phone number.

Thanks @ImpatientAnn

The reporting process is unnecessarily complicated. Even if it hardly took any time and effort, I guess not many parents would bother doing it, but with the system as it is it must be only the most diligent ones who are reporting.

Another factor that is certainly contributing to the unwillingness to report is the inaccuracy of the tests. We report a negative LFT result as if it is indeed negative thus skewing the statistics of the infections.

@ExponentiallyDepleted

You are putting in their name, DOB, address, school, those are the things that will be used for research and statistics, not their phone number.

If I (and others) don't fill the form in they won't have those details.

I'm sure I read somewhere for reporting the lateral flow results that if you are reporting for a child under 16 then you should put your phone no & email address.

@tuliparcher

I'm sure I read somewhere for reporting the lateral flow results that if you are reporting for a child under 16 then you should put your phone no & email address.

Then they need to update the text in the form.

I’ve been putting my own number and email address - I know that’s not what it’s asked for but quite honestly I’d rather be in control of the process.

My main gripe with it is entering the test strip number - are others able to read this easily because my middle aged eyes don’t!