NHS Covid App closing down

[ffutures]

My phone just beeped to tell me that the NHS will be shutting down the covid phone app this time next month - apparently very few people have entered test results since the test stopped being free and this is one of the consequences.

Hopefully any lessons learned this time around will help when the next panademic comes along. But given the crapness shown handling this one I'm not holding my breath...

Comments

[vivdunstan]

It’s caused alarm among vasculitis patients in the charity I volunteer for. They rely on registering their LFT results to trigger access to anti virals they are eligible for and need because they’re immunosuppressed. Fortunately the tests can still be registered on the website. This patient group is still eligible for free NHS tests.

[ffutures]

And there are lots of other groups that applies to, of course.

[eledonecirrhosa]

Yeah I just got that text too. I'm rationing my last remaining free test kits for things like Eastercon.

[dewline]

This is not good. Not good at all. But everyone reading this already understands that.

[susanreads]

Well, I haven't been reporting my results since I went to do one and it said this site is only for the free NHS tests, you can't report results from tests you pay for. I'm sure it didn't say that a year ago when I did have free NHS tests. A friend thinks it's been changed because the government doesn't want to know people's results.

[julesjones]

What that ping carefully didn't mention is that it's quite a while since free NHS tests were withdrawn for most people, and those are the only test results the app accepts. And I do mean carefully - it was *very* carefully worded to imply that people aren't bothering to enter results.

Even if it did accept not-NHS tests, I'm sure my employer is not the only one saying that if you have symptoms but don't have a positive result you can work from home and not have to use sick time, but if you use a test for whatever reason and test positive you *must* stay away from the office and record it as sick leave even if you are symptom-free. Nowhere does this policy say that you must test if you have symptoms. I'm sure all my colleagues are being responsible and testing as soon as they are symptomatic...