Coronavirus Bristolians having to wait over a week for test results
SOME people are having to wait more than a week to get their coronavirus test results in the Bristol area – and one person has claimed she hasn’t received her result at all.
The Post has been contacted by several people expressing frustration over the delays in getting their Covid-19 test result back.
The Department of Health and Social Care said NHS Test and Trace is processing tests at an unprecedented rate – 270,000 a day on average over the last week - and that the majority of the public who undertake an in-person test are receiving their results the following day.
However, one woman contacted us to say her and her two housemates got tested on Thursday, October 15, at Bristol Airport, but she still hasn’t got her results back – while her two housemates got a negative result back late on Wednesday night.
The 21-year-old, who lives in the city centre, said they booked the tests as she was coughing and another housemate had tested positive for coronavirus.
“We were advised to self-isolate and wait for the test results to come back, but they never did,” said the University of Bristol student. “We started isolating on October 12 and stopped isolating yesterday after ten days.
“I spoke with them on Tuesday and they said, if you don’t hear from us within a couple of days, we have lost your results.
“I am a bit upset because I was going to places before my housemate got tested and it makes you worry in case you have given it to other people, it is terrifying.
“How are they going to get a grip of this virus if they can not manage a testing system?”
Kathryn Harris, from Patchway, said her test result took nine days to come back.
The mother-of-two said she got her results back on Wednesday night, coming back negative.
“This has meant my children and husband were home unnecessarily,” she added. “Once I got sent for the test, the whole house had to isolate until we got the result back.
“Because it took nine days, everybody was stuck at home - I think it is terrible. “It is shocking.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “NHS Test and Trace is processing tests at an unprecedented rate - 270,000 a day on average over the last week – with the majority of the public who undertake an in-person test receiving their results the following day, and reporting no issues at all.”