BBC
Ted McSweeney says he has “completely lost trust in the whole system” after he received three negative PCR results at a testing site in Swindon, despite getting positive results from lateral flow tests.
He only tested positive with a PCR test after using a home testing kit.
After his first negative PCR result, Ted says he called NHS Test and Trace to ask for advice.
“They were happy for me to go back to work. But I had symptoms and I had a positive lateral flow test and said ‘something’s not right here’, so I booked another test,” he says.
He continued getting PCR tests for six days, but all came back negative. At this stage he had decided to isolate anyway, because he was “sure” he had the virus.
After the third negative PCR, he contacted Test and Trace and was sent a home testing kit – that came back positive.
He adds that he was then given conflicting information about when he could go back to work.
“It’s made me lose faith in the whole system,” he says. “If they don’t know, how do we know?”