You'll all know my son is recovering from Covid19, still with symptoms, so still having to self isolate with his partner. Both frontline public service employees. My son's partner is wanted back at work, so a test was arranged for her today at a site run by Serco.

They had a 30 minute slot, arrived at the right time to be told the wait was 90 minutes & there were no staff to administer the tests. They queued in their car, were given the tests & a barcode & an employee read out instructions for my son to carry out the tests on his partner.

Tonsil swab & nasal swab. If the swab touches the mouth it won't work. If you fail to carry out the test properly, it won't work. An employee disinterestedly read out the instructions. My son did his best to follow them. In a car with their toddler in the back.

They then had to stick the barcode on and drive to another station where an employee was stood with a black bin into which the test had to be thrown. They were then told to go home, go online & register the test by midnight at the latest.

They tried to do this on arrival at home, but the website has crashed. They saw people panicking, trying to do tests on their loved ones they had no idea how to do. They saw staff looking clueless & helpless, most of whom had limited English to answer questions.

What the hell is going on? This is scandalous. Outrageous. My son & his partner have been treated dismally from the moment he became ill. A catalogue of ineptitude, failure & a shambolic lack of care. I'm blazing mad. You should be too. Ends.

Update - They weren't able to register on the website by midnight as required, as it was down all evening. For those asking, this happened in Oxford but it's not the only place it's happening. Thank you to everyone who's shared & got this story out there. https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/health/coronavirus/fresh-anger-over-doncaster-covid-testing-centre-keyworkers-wait-hours-be-told-do-their-own-test-2550373