Mine was probably not typical, and the circumstances under which it was given, though by no means unique, won't probably apply to many here.
I was due to have a hospital operation in April, which never took place for obvious reasons. Out of the blue, a few days before the August Bank Holiday weekend, I received a telephone call from the hospital (a major one responsible for treating all Covid in-patients in my area). I was asked if I'd like to be booked in for the op on Friday Sept 4th. I almost bit their hand off, and was told the timetable.
Tues Sept 1st, go to test centre at local cricket club at 10.15 in car for test conducted by Devon and Cornwall Ambulance Service
Wed Sept 2nd, 16.15, receive tel call from Pre-Op re-asking all the questions I had answered back in March, info too old to reuse. assuming test result was negative
Fri Sept 4th report to hospital at 07.30 for day operation, with proviso that a one night stay might have to take place
At 10.00 on the Tues I drove up the narrow lane to the cricket club, where a sort of sentry box had been erected, and was beckoned forward by the Paramedic, a very friendly, experienced man who told me what was going to happen and that it wasn't very pleasant, but should be bearable. The throat swab took place first, and he had to make three or four attempts before he was successful on account of my involuntary reflex of trying to repel this foreign object. After that, the hard poke up the nose was a cinch, being not nearly as bad as I'd experienced a few months earlier when a surgeon had been taking a biopsy in the same spot. 10.07, drove away with the parting words ''no news is good news here, you'll only be contacted if you test positive''.
On the Wed aft duly got a hospital phone call, at the end of which the lady said 'we may not have got your result yet, I'll just check'' and then came back to say it had come in and was negative.
So that was my experience, and all had gone according to plan and handled efficiently and charmingly. The rest of it was rather at odds with that, my entry to hospital ending on a Friday evening all right, but exactly one week later, during which time I saw some of the very best (and caring) aspects of hospital NHS treatment, and some pretty shoddy stuff as well, but I choose not to focus on that.
Don't know whether any of that is of interest, but I hope so.