"Covid-19 testing"

The people were great, the process - terrible in my opinion. 

Firstly, if it's stated on the website that the clinic is open from 10am-6pm, it should be open from 10am to 6pm. My partner and I arrived during lunchtime and the clinic was closed, even though lunch is the most convenient time for many people I believe, due to work commitments. While that's not really much of an issue - I feel the lack of any notice is. We simply wouldn't have come during lunch and wasted 20 minutes at the start.

In relation to the process - it really could use a massive improvement as well, in my opinion. NSW/Federal Health, I'm looking at you:

(1) Paper forms and pens and we're in the 21st century apparently. I believe it is a waste of time for the patients, higher risk of infection for everyone (sharing and passing of pens and paper), additional time wasted for admin staff in my opinion, to copy info across into the system and error prone. I feel online registration would've made it easier and safer for everyone involved. The results registration could also be done at the same time.

(2) I feel the whole process takes too long. From start to finish, it was just under 2 hours. 

(3) 24-72hrs is too long a time to wait for results in my opinion. While I understand we are performing plenty of testing, perhaps we could have something along the line of mobile labs to speed up this process or have additional capability. I believe getting results within 24hrs should be the norm. 

(4) Few other countries are allowing home testing kits. This might encourage more people to take tests, as I believe some people (like myself) or immunocompromised ones would prefer to avoid mingling with other potential Covid-19 carriers.

(5) It would've been nice if we didn't need to touch a button and a door handle on the way out. It might be worthwhile to install an automatic door to limit contamination or simply keep the exit door open. 

(6) In my opinion, it should easy to find out if Temporary Visa holders are eligible for free hospitalisations due to Covid-19. Nothing on any of the sites about that. 

Whinging aside, it's not all bad. The good:

- The staff were informative, patient, and caring. They do their job well

- Free surgical masks

- The test is free, even for those without Medicare and for those with mild symptoms. We weren't turned back due to mild symptoms as I believe is the case in some other countries.