Coronavirus test website tried to send us to Carlisle and then Aberdeen – Hayley Matthews

After Hayley Matthews’ son comes down with what is probably a cold, he’s off school until he gets the all-clear from a coronavirus test – but finding a nearby testing centre proves difficult.

So we’ve literally just got back into a routine with a full first week back at school and then wham, the sore throat and snotty noses hit. Now I’m pretty sure it’s just a common cold with a bit of a virus thrown in for good measure. However, with everyone twitchy at the slightest sound of someone coughing, I thought we’d be sensible and keep our eldest off school after he woke up sounding like he has a 60-a-day L&B habit.

He had his tonsils out last year so I think this cold has hit his chest. He sounded rough at the start of the week and woke up one morning telling us he couldn’t breathe and didn’t want to die! He can be a tad dramatic but nonetheless, we could see he wasn’t well.

As most kids tend to do when they’re off school, he was jumping about within a few hours of honey drinks and paracetamol and I was all up for sending him back to school after a day or two and didn’t think it could be coronavirus. All happy with myself at getting half a jar of Manuka honey in him and getting him sounding a little less husky, I phoned the school to say we’d be back.

Erm no, that wasn’t going to happen. Apparently there is a procedure that all schools need a negative Covid test when a child has a cough or any of the Covid symptoms. And if it’s positive then hello a two-week family holiday of self-isolation!

The school also told me to phone NHS 24/7 yet when I called them they said I should only be calling if I was concerned and I wasn’t. So there seems to be much confusion about the protocol for what to do now we’re back at school.

The woman at NHS 24 said to book a test online for my son and to call back if I was worried. She also said they’d had a huge amount of calls about kids being off and the parents being told to call NHS 24. She didn’t know where this advice had come from and mentioned there had been a huge amount of kids off school sick reported over the last week, so they’d had a lot of calls. There seems to be many who are a tad confused and I don’t think we were all expecting so many kids off school after the first week back.

Anyhoo, respecting the school’s request we kept our son off and booked a test. The booking a test bit was a riot! There were issues with the site and it kept telling us our closest test centre was Carlisle! I didn’t fancy driving the M74 with two kids in the car so we called the help number. They said they were all out of tests for the day and to try again tomorrow. Or we could get one posted. I’m not sure what would be quicker.

We tried again later that day in a desperate attempt to get our son back in school but this time it pointed us to a trip north up the A90 to Aberdeen as being our closest test centre.

Not sure what was going on but we finally managed, after a few days, to get a test booked at Cockenzie Power Station. At least there I could bribe the boys with a Luca’s Irn-Bru sorbet cone on the way home, in exchange for being good and letting me swab a cotton bud up my son’s nose! The test centre itself was well organised, so hats off to all those involved at Cockenzie.

I’ll report in next week if we’ve all got the corona. I’m pretty sure it’s just a cold, but if that test comes back positive I’ll be stocking up on wine in preparation for a two weeks of isolation at home.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to the Edinburgh Evening News online and enjoy unlimited access to trusted, fact-checked news and sport from Edinburgh and the Lothians. Visit www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director