Is anyone else facing a delay in receiving test results today (5 October)?

[S&CLER]

I took a Covid test this morning, since it is a requirement to visit my friend in his care home that I have a negative test the same day. I have done this about 6 times before and have always had the result within half an hour. I don't have a mobile phone, so the result is always emailed to me, and I print it out to show the staff at the home. There has never been any problem before. It is now 3 hours since I took the test, and I have not had the result yet, so it may not be possible to take up my booked visiting slot at 2 p.m.
Has anyone else faced this problem today?
Edit at 14:14 |: still no result so I've had to cancel my booked visit.

 

[3rd rail land]

Not had a delay in getting a test result but when I visit my dad in his care home a staff members administers the LFT in the porch area and the result comes back within a couple of minutes on the test strip. I don't have to pay for this. Does the care home you are visit not do the testing on site?

 

[S&CLER]

Not had a delay in getting a test result but when I visit my dad in his care home a staff members administers the LFT in the porch area and the result comes back within a couple of minutes on the test strip. I don't have to pay for this. Does the care home you are visit not do the testing on site?

They haven't offered anything as quick as this, as far as I know. Once I was tested there, but had to go and wait for half an hour before they were ready with the result, Usually, I go to the free test site at Splash World, the local swimming pool, which is the designated site for symptom-free people; there is another test centre by the Town Hall for those with symptoms. The Splash World site is very near Morrison's, only a few minutes walk away, so I normally combine the test with doing my shopping, Sometimes the result has been back in my email inbox before I come home from the supermarket.

 

[davews]

I know the instructions tell you to wait 30 minutes, but when I did an LFT today (to prove the cold I had was not covid) the C bar appeared after a minute. Are they now saying 'wait for the C bar then you have the result'?
When I reported the negative result via their website I had the acknowledgement email back in around a minute.

 

[Smidster]

They haven't offered anything as quick as this, as far as I know. Once I was tested there, but had to go and wait for half an hour before they were ready with the result, Usually, I go to the free test site at Splash World, the local swimming pool, which is the designated site for symptom-free people; there is another test centre by the Town Hall for those with symptoms. The Splash World site is very near Morrison's, only a few minutes walk away, so I normally combine the test with doing my shopping, Sometimes the result has been back in my email inbox before I come home from the supermarket.

Do they not allow you to do home LFT tests?

 

[johnnychips]

I know the instructions tell you to wait 30 minutes, but when I did an LFT today (to prove the cold I had was not covid) the C bar appeared after a minute. Are they now saying 'wait for the C bar then you have the result'?
When I reported the negative result via their website I had the acknowledgement email back in around a minute.

The presence of the red line at C merely indicates the test is valid. If it doesn’t appear it is usually because not enough liquid has been added to the swab samples, or the cotton swab hasn’t had the liquid squeezed out enough.

It is the absence of another red line after thirty minutes that gives the negative test. If a red line appears at the letter T before thirty minutes, the test is positive. However, if a red line appears at T after 30 minutes, the test is inconclusive and another should be taken.

 

[S&CLER]

Do they not allow you to do home LFT tests?

They gave me a box but after reading the instructions I decided it was much easier to go to the test centre and let them do all the formalities.

 

[Domh245]

It is the absence of another red line after thirty minutes that gives the negative test. If a red line appears at the letter T before thirty minutes, the test is positive. However, if a red line appears at T after 30 minutes, the test is inconclusive and another should be taken.

Whilst the first part of that sentence is true, the second part is not - after 30 minutes the result should no longer be read.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the exact 30 minute window is true only for the 'original' lateral flow tests which involve swabbing both mouth and nose. The nose only tests (far nicer to use!!) allow the results to be read after 15 minutes, with either a 20 minute (orient gene) or 30 minute (flowflex) limit on reading