Flaw in NHS Covid-19 app leaves users struggling to alert others of test results

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Northerner

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The long-awaited NHS Covid-19 app does not permit users to alert others to the results of coronavirus test conducted in NHS hospitals or Public Health England labs, it has emerged.

The app is intended to keep track of people that users come into contact with – via a system of Bluetooth tracking and check-ins at venues – and alert anyone who may have been exposed to a positive case of coronavirus.

People who receive test results via the Government’s testing system are given a unique code to enter via the app, which notifies everyone they’ve come into contact with of the potential exposure.

However, it has emerged that a substantial portion of the people tested each day are not provided the codes that would allow them to share their results via the app.

Test results received in a Public Health England lab or at an NHS hospital outside of the main testing scheme, or as part of national surveillance testing conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), can’t currently be flagged via the app, whether they are positive or negative.

inews.co.uk

Flaw in NHS Covid-19 app leaves users struggling to alert others of test results

Test results received in a Public Health England lab, an NHS hospital, or as part of national surveillance testing can’t currently be flagged via the app
inews.co.uk inews.co.uk

:(
 
I will wear a face mask, even though i probably don't have too. ( asthma -copd). Do all the necessary social distancing etc.. But ask me to download an app. no thanks. I've read George Orwell.
 
Is it really a check-in function? Surely it just wants to know where you are in case you get close to someone there. If you have left by the time a contagious person pops up there you won't be close to them so won't need an alert.
 
Hepato-pancreato said:
I will wear a face mask, even though i probably don't have too. ( asthma -copd). Do all the necessary social distancing etc.. But ask me to download an app. no thanks. I've read George Orwell.
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It is a bit of a myth that all people with Asthma can't wear masks, cold air can trigger mine, so face covering stops the cold air getting into my airways.
I wear a mask, but then I wore them a lot at when I worked.
 
barrym said:
Is it really a check-in function? Surely it just wants to know where you are in case you get close to someone there. If you have left by the time a contagious person pops up there you won't be close to them so won't need an alert.
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My understanding (which may not be correct) is that the app is a collection of largely unrelated features. In particular, the QR code checking in to venues is in no way connected with the bluetooth contact tracing.

So the QR venue checkin is purely an alternative to giving your name and contact to the venue, so that if (probably through local public health people) there's some known infection at that venue, you can be informed of it.

And sure, there might be some theoretical benefit in knowing when you left, it would make the whole thing more complex to use (so more people would get it wrong) and more complex for venues (they'd presumably need to display two QR codes and make it clear which is which). For some that would be fine but lots just have one door. Overall it seems just as well to keep it equivalent to the records venues are being required to maintain (which I presume are basically daily records), only the QR bit makes it more convenient for everyone to be accurate (no need to check names and phone numbers or anything).
 
Bruce Stephens said:
My understanding (which may not be correct) is that the app is a collection of largely unrelated features. In particular, the QR code checking in to venues is in no way connected with the bluetooth contact tracing.

So the QR venue checkin is purely an alternative to giving your name and contact to the venue, so that if (probably through local public health people) there's some known infection at that venue, you can be informed of it.

And sure, there might be some theoretical benefit in knowing when you left, it would make the whole thing more complex to use (so more people would get it wrong) and more complex for venues (they'd presumably need to display two QR codes and make it clear which is which). For some that would be fine but lots just have one door. Overall it seems just as well to keep it equivalent to the records venues are being required to maintain (which I presume are basically daily records), only the QR bit makes it more convenient for everyone to be accurate (no need to check names and phone numbers or anything).
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That sounds very feasible.
 
Bruce Stephens said:
My understanding (which may not be correct) is that the app is a collection of largely unrelated features. In particular, the QR code checking in to venues is in no way connected with the bluetooth contact tracing.

So the QR venue checkin is purely an alternative to giving your name and contact to the venue, so that if (probably through local public health people) there's some known infection at that venue, you can be informed of it.

And sure, there might be some theoretical benefit in knowing when you left, it would make the whole thing more complex to use (so more people would get it wrong) and more complex for venues (they'd presumably need to display two QR codes and make it clear which is which). For some that would be fine but lots just have one door. Overall it seems just as well to keep it equivalent to the records venues are being required to maintain (which I presume are basically daily records), only the QR bit makes it more convenient for everyone to be accurate (no need to check names and phone numbers or anything).
Click to expand...

Makes sense.
 
grovesy said:
That seems a bit quick to me , which suggests they knew it was not quite ready when they released it. They have been supposed to have been testing this app!!!
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Yes, it's clearly not been tested thoroughly before release, that flaw was so fundamental :( I suspect that they were forced into releasing it on Thursday because that was the date that had been given for its release by ministers a few weeks back :( As a programmer, I was often put in such a ridiculous position where people who know nothing about software set an inviolable date for its release, regardless of its state :(
 
Northerner said:
Yes, it's clearly not been tested thoroughly before release, that flaw was so fundamental :( I suspect that they were forced into releasing it on Thursday because that was the date that had been given for its release by ministers a few weeks back :( As a programmer, I was often put in such a ridiculous position where people who know nothing about software set an inviolable date for its release, regardless of its state :(
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Yeah I suspect you are right . I saw an article last week were some in Newham saying they had experienced problems but it was not uploading the test results. I think it was more to do with scanning QR codes.
 
I’ve not read the story... but from the description isn’t the problem that people aren’t being given the codes? Rather than the app itself?

I’m not sure the check-in is all that different to writing your name on a clipboard in a cafe either... I’ve never been given the clipboard again to cross my name out, and I guess they just shred them after a couple of weeks.
 
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