'I couldn't get my sick asthmatic son a coronavirus test. The system needs fixing'

Like many children across England, my six-year-old twins, William and Arthur, returned to school on 3 September. In the six months they’d been off school they’d been unusually healthy and not fallen ill even once; both my sons have health issues with asthma and tonsillitis and often end up in hospital from something as harmless as a cold.

Although I was excited about their new freedom, I felt nervous. Not least because they’d been placed in different school bubbles [bubbles can be whole year groups or small groups within a year that are only permitted to mix with other children in their assigned bubble]. I asked if they could be in the same one but the school said they were worried about disruption if siblings were together so I didn’t push it. I was still concerned - not least because separate bubbles felt like an increased risk of catching something.

After two days back at school they seemed really happy, despite the inconveniences of not seeing each other at break and different start and pick up times. Then over the weekend both boys developed a cough. It gradually got worse, and by Sunday night Arthur was struggling to breathe.

After a sleepless night, and doing my best to control it with his inhaler, I told the school I was keeping the boys off and would get them tested for coronavirus. I thought it would be important for the school to know - they had the classic symptoms.

I called 111 twice as during the first call their computer failed, but I was advised that Arthur needed assessing and I should call back again. The next assessor sent paramedics because he was that unwell. I tried to book a test online but kept getting an “unavailable” message. I also tried phoning but kept getting a message saying there were no tests and to try again later.

Arthur was too ill for me to keep trying and diverting my attention, so I asked their dad (who does not live with us) if he could. Like me, he had no luck online so tried phoning instead. It was very confusing, I felt like we were going round in circles. Eventually he got into a queue, and was on hold for 40 minutes - when he finally got through no one answered and he was cut off.

On the one occasion I nearly managed to book a test, I couldn’t get Arthur’s name in the system. Although I’d specified a test for someone else, it kept using my name. When I couldn’t change it I was so frustrated I thought ‘sod it’ and booked it anyway. But the code I was sent did not work and we were back to square one. I tried again but never got as far as that again.

Throughout this whole episode I also noticed that the testing location nearest us (Southend airport, Essex, which is around two miles away) was not available. The website was only showing an address 25 miles away in Romford. And with two children who were having trouble breathing, taking them on a 50-mile round trip would not have been an easy task.

Eventually we gave up on accessing the tests to concentrate on getting the boys better. But after a second sleepless night, Arthur got worse and the paramedics had to return. Arthur spent a morning on the nebuliser. I mentioned to the paramedics that we couldn’t get a test and they tried to book one for us - but with no luck either.

I decided to take the plunge and once Arthur was breathing more normally again I drove us to the test site nearby without a booking. I thought: "Surely it’s better to go to your nearest test centre than turn up at one several miles away which keeps running out of test kits because people from far and wide are being sent there?"

On arrival the test site was nearly empty - maybe three cars - and we drove straight in [test and trace director Sarah Jane Marsh said on 8 September “all of our testing sites have capacity, which is why they don’t look overcrowded, it’s our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch-point”].

We were given four tests. Rubbing a cotton bud on a child’s tonsils and sticking it up their nose seemed like the easiest thing in the world compared to the ordeal of trying to book the thing.

We were told if we hadn’t registered we should do it before midnight, it all seemed so simple once we were actually there. Once home (and after several attempts to register on the phone) we finally managed to get our barcodes registered - hallelujah! By this point Arthur was improving but it was another sleepless night as William’s condition was getting worse .

We are now expecting our results any minute. We may or may not have had coronavirus but the stress of trying to find out was absurd, especially with the stress of two very ill children. The guidance is not clear, there is obviously a problem with communication between test sites and the website and the whole process seemed complicated and unnecessary.

I feel like the last few days have been like walking through mud: the twin’s medication gets sent to a chemist within hours of being assessed, it’s a pity the same cannot be said for tests.