Being hounded by NHS Test & Trace: One Thing or a Mother

So, I’m finally free!
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My ten days of Covid-mandated isolation have ended, and I’m allowed out into the big wide world again.

It’s been so lovely just being able to walk around and get fresh air again, take the children to the park, and just generally be outside and out of the house.

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But, perhaps best of all,is that I (hopefully) won’t have to talk to NHS Test & Trace or receive their texts and emails for a good while.

NHS Test & Trace is certainly persistent. Picture: Getty Images Christopher FurlongNHS Test & Trace is certainly persistent. Picture: Getty Images Christopher Furlong
NHS Test & Trace is certainly persistent. Picture: Getty Images Christopher Furlong

Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s an important service, and the people calling are just doing their job, but Oh. My. Godness it sure does get boring having the same script read to you over and over and over again, and then having that same information emailed and texted to you.

Seeing as all four of us got Covid, it necessitated several PCR tests, many texts and emails, and lots of phone calls to check we were complying with the process. And because the children obviously aren’t old enough to be contacted directly, I had to deal with all their information, too. It felt like I needed some kind of Covid secretary just to navigate it. I’ve just counted, and this month (our month of Covid!) I received 15 calls and 20 text messages from Test & Trace, 11 texts from the NHS Covid results service and 22 emails about Covid – and that’s not even counting the ones I’ve already deleted.

I know they needed to make sure we didn’t spread the disease, but the lack of joined-up thinking was actually comical at times.

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I’d go through a load of questions about my symptoms, how I got Covid, etc., etc., on the phone. I’d tell them everyone in my house had already got it and I was the last to test positive, and how I clearly caught it from my family. And then they’d insist on reading the script telling me to get my family tested if they have Covid symptoms. And then they’d text them all to recommend they get a PCR test – despite also reiterating to me several times that nobody who has tested positive should retest within 90 days.

Without getting too political, it feels like there is a potential for some money-saving if each family could just be treated as one entity. Perhaps this can form the basis of my campaign for PM...

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