Hi Katejo - no you don't select a slot.
Here is the e-mail I got asking me to book a test. I've just copied and pasted but some of the format will be lost:
"Thank you so much for using the COVID Symptom Study app and helping to fight the outbreak. ZOE is very excited to be able to offer you a chance to get tested for COVID-19.
You've recently reported feeling unwell with a particular combination of symptoms. We would like to offer you a test to discover if you have the virus right now. This does not necessarily mean you have COVID-19 as we are also inviting some people we believe do not have the virus.
This request comes from our work with the Department of Health and Social Care to give you access to a COVID-19 test. This testing process is run by the Department of Health, and no data will come to us until you choose to share it. For clarity, you may have been invited to participate in a clinical study run by King's College London, but this email and any test results you may enter are a separate project and will not be part of that study.
The Department of Health is therefore inviting you to have a PCR swab test to confirm whether you are currently positive or negative for the virus. This will let you know your status and help us develop an even better understanding of which symptoms are most related to COVID-19 infection. Please note, you do not need to be an essential worker to have received this e-mail.
Book your test
We have not shared your details with the Department of Health. If you would like to be tested, please book this as soon as possible as the test only works if you are actively infectious. Please keep logging your symptoms every day and make sure to enter the results of your test into the app once you get them. You can use this guide to aid the test booking process.
Thank you so much for your amazing contribution to science.
Tim Spector
on behalf of ZOE
Please read the following key information before booking a test:
? You will be asked to confirm you are an essential worker as part of the booking process. We have agreed with DHSC that you can access testing for the purposes of this research, so please select ?OK, I qualify? when you reach the relevant screen. Please note: this permission only applies to you as the study participant. You must not encourage members of your family or friends to access a test unless they have also been invited as a study participant or a symptomatic essential worker, and therefore already qualify.
? You will then be offered the choice between a home testing kit or booking a testing slot at one of our regional testing sites (RTS's).
? Home tests are delivered to your address. You then self-administer the swab (taking a sample from both your nose and throat) before returning the kit for analysis via a courier. Full instructions will be delivered along with the kit. Please note: capacity for these tests is released at the beginning of each day and demand is high. Therefore you may find that there are none available when you attempt to book. In this case, please select a slot at a suitable RTS, if possible.
? If you have trouble getting a home testing kit, please check the website soon after 0800 or 1700 as kits can book out within hours after each time slot when they are released.
? Regional Testing Sites are distributed across the UK, with more than 50 sites now available. You can book a slot at the site nearest to you (if capacity is available) or at another site with available capacity and within a regional driving distance. Please note: this opportunity is currently only available to app users within England and Northern Ireland. We are working to expand this to Scotland and Wales.
? Once you have confirmed your testing route you will be asked to confirm your profession. Please select ?Volunteers? from the drop-down menu.
? You will then see a summary screen with your name mobile number and profession listed. Please note: check that your phone number is correct as this is how you will receive further information, including your test results.
? Once you have submitted your application you will receive a text message with a link to either a) claim your home testing kit or b) book a slot at a regional testing site.
? Once you have completed your tests, results will be sent back to you by the Department of Health and Social Care. This will confirm whether you were positive or negative for COVID-19, or, in a minority of cases, whether it was not possible to confirm your result. Please note: you are then responsible for reporting these results in the COVID Symptom Study app. They will not be automatically shared by the test site."
When I first tried to book a home test it was in the eve and there were nobne available but when i tried again the next morning I got one. Sounds like there are just a certain number relased each day and when they're gone they're gone!
I would be interested also in the accuracy of home testing compared with attending a test centre and the percentage of tests that give the same result and I presume this will have been studied (ref my inability to do a long enough throat swab - a lthough it goes up the nose too which was easy!).
Hurdity x
